The Clash of Dimensions
by Slasher - The Celestial Moon
Summary: Giovanni has done it. He's captured all of the Legendary Pokemon and is subjecting them to his will. The only one left is the renegade, Giratina. And together with Ash, she must travel to the alternate dimension of the Pokemon world, to enlist the help of Red, arguably the greatest Pokemon trainer whoever lived.
1. Chapter 1

Start of a Crisis.

Ash gave out a strangled cry as the wind was thrown from his body as his most trusted companion was slammed into his chest, sending the pair backwards several paces. The culprit was a smug looking persian, preening itself while its master watched with a twisted smirk on his face. Giovanni, the notorious leader of the infamous team rocket, looked down on the young trainer and said calmly

"Well, once again it seems that I am the victor. Only this time, there are no second chances… Allow me to show you what you have just failed to stop. Bring forth our latest acquisition!"

At the sound of the last sentence, several helicopters bearing the red R of team rocket dropped down from the sky. Chained between them was some sort of glowing cage, similar to the one that had been previously used to capture Meloetta. However this one was much larger and electrical discharges crackled through the translucent film. Inside was a figure that turned the trainer from Kanto's insides to jelly. Beaten and broken to the point where its head drooped to the floor of the cage… was the alpha pokemon, Arceus.

"Impressive… isn't it?" Giovanni asked "To be able to capture and bind the most powerful pokemon of all. Soon it will obey my every will, and then the entire world will be mine."

"You can't do that!" Ash protested, punctuated by Pikachu.

"Oh… and why can't I?" Giovanni asked calmly. It amused him greatly whenever people tried to tell him what he could and couldn't do.

"Because… pokemon aren't meant to be used that way. They aren't tools for evil people to abuse…"

"A child's answer… and here I thought you would have grown up a little since we last met five years ago. No matter. Now to end this… Dialga. Roar of time now!"

"Dialga?!" Ash cried, as the temporal pokemon descended upon the pair, the deadly attack forming within its jaws. In a futile effort to protect his trainer and friend, Pikachu launched a lightning bolt at Dialga. The electric attack met the strongest of all dragon type moves in mid-air; and was overpowered in an instant. Ash leaped in front of the electric mouse, prepared to take the full blow when a dark blue sphere of ghostly flames slammed the attack off course causing it to slam into the ground twenty feet to the left. The smoke cloud billowed over the scene for moment, but both Ash and Pikachu were unharmed.

"What?!" Giovanni started, the sudden intrusion plastering a look of confusion over his features.

Giratina narrowed its eyes before sending an aura sphere at Dialga. The temporal legend avoided it and the spikes on its back begun to grow as it prepared for another Roar of Time. Without waiting for permission or whatever it was that would be needed, Giratina scooped Ash and Pikachu up with its ghostly wing before placing them unceremoniously on its back. The pair tumbled down until they were able to gain a hold on the Renegade Pokemon's hide. Ash pulled himself into an upright position, gripping tightly to avoid being thrown off as Giratina rose into the air, distracting Dialga with another aura sphere before beating its wings and heading towards a large nearby lake.

Giovanni just watched them go. So…Giratina had shown itself in order to save the boy… No matter, once he had control of Arceus, Giratina could be swept aside at his leisure. Turning on heel, the Team Rocket boss walked slowly towards a waiting copter. Behind him, Giratina passed from the real world into the reverse world.

Ash looked down at the Pokemon that had just saved his life, now glowing a glittering violet as it changed from its Altered form into origin form. A few seconds later the glow faded, and the legend reverted to its usual colour scheme. Ash immediately jumped off when Giratina levitated itself over a platform and turned to look at the huge dragon pokemon.

"Thank you Giratina… You saved us…"

"Pika pika."

Giratina nodded, and then did something that previous encounters didn't prepare Ash for. It replied.

"Call it returning the favour if you will."

The voice was soft and husky as well as being unmistakably feminine. Ash's eyes couldn't get any wider, something which made the legendary snort irritably. Finally regaining his senses, the teen spoke up,

"I didn't know you could talk."

"I couldn't. But I taught myself out of boredom. That's not the problem. Humans have gotten greedy, and this time they're so close to succeeding it makes me burn."

"I'm sorry… I just… couldn't do anything."

"Starting a pity party won't help anyone. You, or rather we, need a plan. There's no other legendaries left."

"Giovanni got them all?!" Ash exclaimed "But… how?"

The renegade sighed "That's what I'd like to find out, but if he caught Arceus… He'll have me in a heartbeat."

"Then what can we do?" Ash asked "There has got to be something."

Giratina shook her head "I don't know… But there is somewhere we might find out."

"Where?" Ash demanded "We need to get there now!"

"One, taking you there would break every rule in the book, and two, I'm not even sure I can get in without Arceus. But, might as well try… Get back on."

The raven haired teen didn't need, jumping onto the huge legendaries back. Giratina took off, if it could be called that in this twisted world where she barely even touched the ground. The trio sped through the reverse world. Ash couldn't help but admire the scenery, even though the situation outside this realm was so dire.

"So… where are we going anyway?"

Giratina gave a sign then replied, "The record hall. Everything that's ever happened, Arceus has recorded and keeps there."

Ash blinked "Uh… why?"

"How should I know? He might not want to forget, or might just find it useful to be able to look back from time to time. Anyway, my throat's getting sore from all this prattling."

With that, the conversation dried up faster than sweat in a desert, and the renegade flew through her twisted dimension in silence.

Ash didn't really know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, he was back in the real world, and a very irate looking Giratina was glaring down at him with her blood-red eyes. Leaping up from the stone floor he had been laid on, the pokemon trainer looked around

"Where are we?"

"Spear pillar," answered Giratina, "I trust you remember the place."

Ash gave another look around, then nodded "Yeah… This is where Cyrus tried to use Dialga and Palkia to create a new world."

"Essentially, but it's not here that we're interested in. I guessed that you would want to see this."

"See what?" Ash asked. Pikachu was back up on his shoulder and staring at Giratina just as quizzically as his trainer.

The legendary didn't answer- she was pretty good at that. Instead she turned her masked head skyward and loosed a roar from her maw. The shattered stone pillars shook, and then a large beam of brilliant white light shot up into the air, before fanning into a huge gateway twice the height of Giratina herself. The energy rippled before becoming as smooth as glass, and Ash had to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Right there, in thin air, was a huge arched chamber. The walls gleamed with a golden sheen, and didn't have a single flaw marking their perfect surface.

Large footsteps brought the teen out of his daze as Giratina started to walk through the field and into the chamber. Snapping back to the world, Ash followed behind the legendary, struggling to keep up with his miniscule legs. Giratina almost felt like helping him, but if she got any softer she'd be as well giving up her day job and becoming a sponge. He'd need to toughen up if either of them were going to be able to stop this. Probably her… Sure he'd had his fair share of accomplishments in the past, but he hadn't done anything for five years that was worthy of note. Mew had said it was because all of his friends had left, Dialga had said there wasn't much to do. Giratina didn't care. Whether she liked it or not, he was the best hope right now. Or so she thought.

Stopping at the end of the chamber, she gave a glance around. Her destination was the huge door behind Arceus' pedestal. However, the only time she'd ever been in there was with Arceus' permission. Not that she'd wanted it. He'd locked her in with the threat that he wouldn't let her out until she'd rewritten any of the volumes that had faded with time. All because she'd gone ballistic at him for making one of those infernal bug types a legendary pokemon. That had been well about three hundred million years ago.

This however, was a different story. Arceus wasn't here, and actually needed her help. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, she respected the alpha pokemon… and didn't really want to see him used as a tool. She also didn't want to end a tool, so she was doing this for herself too. Steeling her resolve, the legendary walked past the pedestal, and extended a wing to the door. Pushing it open, she breathed a small sigh of relief as it swung open. That was the hard part done… she able to actually get in in. Now she just had to find something. Here, she found the term, a needle in a haystack, to be appropriate.

Giratina was about to walk into the room; before she had to draw back her foot in alarm. Ash had already dashed into the room.

"This place is… amazing! Is this everything that's ever happened?" he asked, looking up at his large companion, who shrugged

"I assume so… but next time don't run under me or I will squash you."

"Uh… yeah… sorry about that," Ash muttered. Pikachu made an apologetic noise on behalf of his trainer. Giratina waved them both off and sighed "Just… look for anything. Team rocket are documented in that section. I'll look over here for… anything."

Ash nodded "Okay. C'mon Pikachu. Let's get looking."

"Pika!"

Ash nodded then started to trawl through the books, finding it more difficult due to the fact that the books were four times the size of ordinary books. Never having been an avid reader, Ash could barely keep himself awake. However, the thought of the world being in such peril motivated him to carry on. After several hours, his eyes found something interesting. In an alternate dimension, a trainer called Red and his few friends had defeated Team Rocket all by themselves. After scanning through the pages, he called on Giratina. When the footsteps stopped he assumed that Giratina was looming over him and waiting on an explanation.

Ash stepped back a bit so she could see. The response was immediate.

"Ah... him…"

"You know him?" Ash queried

"Only by his reputation," Giratina shrugged her massive shoulders before continuing "He's about as famous in his world as you are in this one."

This made Ash's head spin. He was famous… but… that made no sense. Famous was someone like Lance or Cynthia. He was just Ash, unable to win a single major league, and getting gradually worse each year. He'd tried for the Sinnoh league last year and failed to get through the first round. Pushing the subject aside, Ash asked

"Is there any way he can help us?"

"Hmm… Well, I can get to that dimension fairly easily, and I think I'd be able to persuade him to help…"

Why is it always the humans who end up having to do these things? They're getting too powerful with their technology… If it keeps up, there won't be any need for legendaries and half of us will end up in a human's pokeball. Giratina shuddered at that thought. There was no way she could imagine herself willingly submitting to a human. However, recent events showed that some humans didn't really care if the pokemon wanted to or not. Dialga was being forced to act against his will, and Arceus was trapped and about to meet the same fate. Giratina gave a bitter stomp and closed her eyes. She was trying to contain her anger before she did something she would regret. This happened too many times for her liking.

A touch on her shoulder made her open her eyes and turn them to bring the yellow mouse perched upon one of the golden armour pieces curled around her upper body. In the tongue that was universal to all of Arceus' magical creations he asked,

_"What's wrong? You don't seem on board with the idea of getting help from this Red guy."_

Irritated that she'd laid herself out on a metaphorical table for Pikachu to read, Giratina composed herself before responding.

_"I'm not. Humans are too powerful now. I don't want to see a world where humans are in control of everything. The world was never meant to get like this._"

Pikachu nodded _"I get it… But most humans aren't like Team Rocket, and it's always good to have any sort of help when you're on the wire… And you're about as on the wire as anyone's ever been. You can put the world back to the way it's designed when it's out of danger. One problem at a time."_

_Giratina snorted "How did a pokemon as mature as you end up with him?"_

_"Ever heard of opposites attract?"_ Pikachu asked, before regretting the phrase. It seemed to sting Giratina, causing her to visibly shudder. Sensing that prodding for answers would be useless, and even dangerous, the electric mouse hopped down back onto his trainer's shoulder.

Giving a sigh of defeat, Giratina switched to human speech and ordered.

"Okay Ash… Follow me. We're going to find Red. I don't have a better idea, and sitting around here reading is making my blood boil."

Ash nodded "Let's go. We'll get this done… We have to!"

Inside however, the previously confident trainer wasn't so sure.

**This is a new idea I've been having. Inspiration for my old stories has dried up completely. I'm not hopeful anything will happen to them any time soon. As for this story, please drop a review if you like it, or if you see any problems I need to fix. Be as nitpicky as you want, every little helps.**


	2. Chapter 2

A Whole New World

Ash leapt off Giratina at the first opportunity, his feet landing heavily on the unfamiliar ground. Pikachu decided to test the new earth as well, the familiar feeling of grass tickling between his toes somehow feeling alien. Kneeling down onto the ground, Ash turned to Pikachu and grinned

"Feels weird doesn't it? How familiar it is, yet so different."

Pikachu nodded; and then twitched his black-tipped ears to the voice of the third member of their dimension travelling trio.

"If you think grass is weird, then you're in for one hell of a time. I had to rewrite several of the early tomes on this place, and it's violent. It was joked several times that I'd fit right in here. Now, let's ignore the grass and get moving."

Without waiting for a response from the two males, Giratina trudged forwards. Until that is… Ash spoke up with something she'd stupidly missed.

"Uh… Giratina… is it really a good idea for you to walk around like that? It's not like you're very inconspicuous. People will be bound to try and catch you. Trainers don't change no matter what world you're in."

"Yet you haven't lifted a finger to try and catch any of us," Giratina snorted. That was something that always confused her. Trainers had tried and failed to catch her whenever she was resting in turnback cave. Ash however hadn't lifted a finger to catch any legendary he'd met- and he'd met most of them. What did that make him, stupid or noble? Pushing the thoughts aside the Renegade pokémon added to her previous statement.

"Besides, if it is just a trainer trying to extend his team, I'm not too worried."

Ash sighed "I still don't think it's a good idea… If you attract attention, we won't get anywhere fast."

"Or, we might attract this Red guy," Giratina challenged, a smirk playing over her features as she watched Ash struggle to come up with a rebuttal.

"I… guess that might be true," Ash muttered sheepishly after a moment, his hand scratching the back of his head idly.

"Thought so," Giratina snorted then continued walking in the direction she had been.

Shaking his head at the recklessness, Ash followed behind her. Pikachu shared his trainer's sentiments; he didn't want to see Giratina get hurt… or worse, caught. There were better ways to find someone than for her to use herself as some sort of bait. Now he just had to find a good argument to battle the rebuttal that Ash couldn't. Then he had to not ignite her temper and cause her to ditch them in this new reality. Nothing had happened yet, but Pikachu knew it would happen eventually. Why did he have to be the partner of such a trouble magnet? The mouse answered his own question with a small smile… it was just so much fun.

Four hours passed without incident, which was probably down to luck and the fact they were in a pretty dense forest. The thick undergrowth made all but the path inaccessible, unless you had a giant legendary pokémon who could clear a path through the dead logs and thorny bushes. The thin whippy branches were lashing at her scales causing her to be glad she wasn't like Palkia, who took so much pride in her appearance it was ridiculous. Giratina was just about force herself through a net of low lying branches, when she heard a loud growl behind her. Quick as a whip the ghost dragon whirled around with a reddish orange sphere of rippling flames in her jaws. The aura sphere attack dissipated as quickly as it had come, but couldn't compete with the speed with which her crimson eyes narrowed. The source of the growl was, instead of some malevolent pokémon as Giratina had first thought, Ash's stomach protesting its hunger to the world.

Smacking a ghostly wing against her face, Giratina growled "Can't you control yourself? Next time I might actually fire."

"Sorry… I'm just… hungry…"

Giratina sighed then said "Well find something, but be quick about it."

Ash nodded then scanned upwards. He was pretty glad that he'd read up on what was edible and what wasn't in a forest. Without Brock or Cilan… he'd pretty much been stumped before. The memory of his two friends made him shiver. Five years alone hadn't been easy but after Iris and Cilan had left to pursue their own dreams, he hadn't been able to find anyone else. At first it had been hard, but over time he'd become numb to the pain. He still felt twinges whenever he thought of the times he'd only gotten through because of his friends. Picking a few edible berries of varying shapes and colours he quickly shoved them into his mouth. The raw food couldn't compare to what he had been used to, but since his travelling companion now was Giratina, he didn't think asking her if she could cook was a good idea. His hunger was abated for now anyway.

Pikachu found the berries much more satisfying and then hopped off to offer Giratina some. She declined, so Pikachu went back down to Ash. Maybe legendary pokémon didn't really need to eat. He'd ask her if she declined again. Right now he was just musing over the lack of Pokémon in this forest. They were probably scared off by Giratina.

"Why don't we fly?" Ash asked after a moment "I mean; if you want to be seen, then it'll make you as noticeable as possible. And it would get us around a lot faster."

"Yes, but…wanting to be noticed by one trainer doesn't mean I want to parade around like some artefact in a museum."

"_But… artefacts don't really parade around… do they?" _Pikachu asked quizzically, "_Your analogy is pretty off."_

"I never asked for your opinion did I?" Giratina retorted, forgetting that she'd replied in the human language. "No I didn't!"

The last statement was punctuated by a snap as she drove her foot through a rotting tree trunk, and then shoved aside a group of branches. Several cracked, but as if just to add to her already naturally foul mood, three sprung back back to slice into the dark grey skin around her eyes. Luckily, a distraction from the pain came from Ash, who asked,

"Who were you talking to? I didn't say anything."

Cursing herself for forgetting to switch, Giratina replied with another question,

"Isn't it obvious? There are two of you with whom I can hold a conversation. Neither are optimal, but whatever."

"There's no need to be so mean you know… And that means you can understand Pikachu?"

"Duh. All pokémon can understand each other. I thought you'd have known that by now."

Ash grinned slightly, sensing an opportunity "Hey, can you relay what Pikachu says? I've always wanted to understand him like that…"

"No! I am no one's silly translator! If you want to understand pokémon, then learn to do so. Getting things handed to you on a silver platter will just lessen the impact in the long run."

"Guess so… But I have no idea how to start."

"That's your problem."

Pikachu listened to the pair go back and forward. It was really quite amusing. Ash hadn't spoken this much with another… uh… being who spoke his language in a while. It would be good for him and maybe Giratina too. Being cooped up in the Reverse world for most of her life couldn't be a good thing. The yellow electric pokémon twitched his ears. There was nothing in the foliage around them, and nothing in the skies. However, he still felt uneasy… The pokémon in the forest should have gotten used to Giratina stomping around by now…

Downwind of the little group, a large posse of haunter and gengar were stalking the group as silently as a calm night breeze. One of the gengar stood out from all of the rest. Instead of being the poisonous purple of its fellows, this one was an even more sinister shade of midnight blue with a paler, more twisted stare. It was this gengar which slowly sunk its body into the dark shadow of a nearby tree, and using the shadow as a vehicle as it moved closer to the group. One by one, the others followed their leader. No one ever encroached on their territory and got away with it. Not even a legendary pokémon would be allowed to pass.

Giratina stopped dead; she sensed something was wrong a moment before it happened. A hail of powerful shadow balls came out of the ground and the crackling balls of dark energy all hit their mark. Several exploded painfully on her underside, while the rest tore at her flanks. She'd taken worse attacks, but the sheer volume of super effective hits all slamming into her simultaneously was agonising for the renegade legendary. One of her legs buckled, while two more slipped when a shockwave caused a log to roll. Unbalanced, Giratina gave out a screeching roar as her head slammed into the ground.

Immediately, Ash sprang into action and attempted to run to Giratina's aid. Just as he was about to reach the downed legendary, something grabbed his ankle and yanked on it hard. For a split second, the boy felt like he was flying, before the rock hard ground brought him crashing back to reality even as he smashed into it. The thick blanket of leaves cushioned his fall somewhat but tears still sprang to his eyes as his elbows and knees jarred painfully when he was stopped so suddenly. Pikachu lunged into action, using an iron tail on the spot in the ground where the shadowy hand had emerged. By then, the culprit had already vanished and moved on to another shadow; thus rendering Pikachu's attack worthless.

Pikachu used his iron tail to instead launch himself up into the air. Bringing his arms and feet into his body, the small pokemon screwed up his face and let loose a powerful thunderbolt at the whole area around them. Several cries of pain told him that the attack had been effective. The only problem was that Ash's voice was among the cries. He's used to it, Pikachu reasoned to himself as he landed among a sea of stunned haunter and gengar. Thinking he was finished, Pikachu started to walk over to his trainer. A hefty shadow punch quickly had him on his back. The shiny gengar was still in the battle, ready to pound the insolent Pikachu into a pulp…

Still reeling from the sneak attack, Pikachu was unable to get himself up quickly enough and that left him vulnerable to the furious shadow pokemon bearing down on him. One of the pair however, was about to have a stroke of luck. The gengar had forgotten for a single, crucial moment that Pikachu wasn't its only adversary. By the time the danger of that shadow looming over it had kicked in, the midnight blue pokemon was already over fifteen feet up into the air.

"_Pathetic,"_ Giratina hissed, her shadowy wing having formed a claw which was now tightening its grip around the body of the gengar. Knowing that it was doomed, the gengar started to beg for mercy. While it begged, Giratina watched as Ash and Pikachu started to check each other over for any injuries. Deciding that not too much damage had been done, and that the wretched ghost type wasn't worth her trouble, Giratina simply threw him into the undergrowth to her left.

Ash finished his check-up of Pikachu before looking at the stirring mass of ghost pokemon.

"Uh… maybe we should get out of here."

Pikachu turned to Giratina. He didn't want anything like that happening again, so he swallowed some brave pills, and repeated his trainer's question from earlier.

"_You don't think you could at least fly us out of this forest… I'd rather not have something like that happen again… And you look hurt… We'll need to get that checked somewhere safer."_

"_I'm perfectly fine," _Giratina protested bitterly. _"But get on. I'd rather not get mobbed by these miserable wretches again."_

"_Thank you…" _Pikachu nodded before starting to sign to Ash that they were allowed a ride. It took a while, but finally he got it. Climbing up on top of Giratina he smiled "Thanks Giratina…"

Giratina decided she'd best not reply, instead flapping her shadowy wings and taking off. A memory suddenly flashed through her head. Dialga hadn't stopped teasing her about the fact that she flapped her wings, even though it looked impossible for them to hold her weight up. Needless to say the temporal pain had been beaten to a pulp until Arceus and Palkia had been able to pull her off. The memory made her wince… for more reasons than one.

Ash pressed himself slightly against Giratina's back. He was tired and restless both at the same time. It had been a long day, even if it didn't seem to be much past noon in this world. However, he knew what was at stake, and wanted to do whatever he could to stop disaster as quickly as possible. Giovanni had had his victory, but if Ash had anything to say about it… he'd be stopped. Wishing he could be as confident as he had been in their last encounter just over five years ago, Ash closed his eyes. Taking a small nap while Giratina flew seemed to be a good idea.

Sadly, the flight barely lasted five minutes. As she'd promised Pikachu, Giratina had taken them out of the forest. That was as far as she went however and quickly touched down on the ground just beyond the thick mass of trees. Grumbling about needing more time, Ash opened his eyes and slid off Giratina's back.

"Couldn't you have flown for a bit longer…? I was just about to fall asleep…" he complained.

Giratina twisted her mouth into a smirk and replied "I could've, but we can't have you getting lazy."

What she neglected to mention was that she was pretty tired herself. Travelling to this world had been tiring, and the shadow balls had hurt. Both of those aches paled in comparison to the aches she felt from the battle with Giovanni that had seen Palkia and Dialga be captured… and most of them weren't physical…

Once again pushing aside the memories Giratina relented,

"Why don't we just rest here for a while… I'd rather you didn't fall asleep while in the middle of another fight."

Ash smiled "I like that idea… Afternoon naps are always the best."

"Time zones between worlds can get interesting," Giratina shrugged boredly. "Don't get used to afternoon naps if I'm ever around though," she added firmly.

Ash just chuckled slightly then stretched out under a tree. Pikachu immediately propped himself up against Ash's side and got comfortable. The trainer smiled happily and wrapped his arm around his longest standing companion.

"G'dnight Pikachu…" Ash slurred sleepily.

"_Night…" _Pikachu muttered, even though it was afternoon, and Ash couldn't really understand him anyway.

Giratina watched this scene with a sigh, before laying her massive golden head on a soft patch of grass, and allowing her whole body to relax. It felt reckless just lying here, but she was too tired to try and get back to the reverse world at the moment. If someone did try to capture her… the ball would waken her up, and this world didn't have access to whatever twisted technology Giovanni had at his disposal to contain a pokemon as powerful as her. After another moment, her heavy lids closed over her scarlet eyes, and she joined her two small male companions in slumber.

**And… done. Again, tell me what you think, and if I missed anything or screwed up, please notify me.**


	3. Chapter 3

He's hurting, she's hurting.

Giratina's eyes snapped open. The chilly night air was pressing down on her scales, and the grass around her was bathed in a tranquil silver moonlight. So much for only having a small rest, Giratina thought. Inwardly Giratina berated herself before lifting her massive bulk from the ground and trudged over to Ash and Pikachu. Predictably, both pokemon and trainer were sleeping peacefully. So peacefully in fact, that most others wouldn't have the heart to wake them. Unluckily for them it was Giratina who was getting them up. One earth-shaking stomp later, and both males were standing on their feet. The renegade got her comeuppance though, because in his surprise, Pikachu let loose a bolt of electricity upwards. The crackling surge of yellow energy struck Giratina in her striped chest and quickly spread through the rest of her body. Paralysing pains spread through her being until she was able to regain herself and shake off the electrical attack.

Realising that he'd just sent a thunderbolt at probably the most violent pokémon in all of history- in a world where battling was pretty much a way of life- Pikachu ducked behind the tree that he and Ash had been using as a shade. Ash blinked, wondering why his pokémon was acting so strangely. Just as he was about to go behind the tree to ask; said tree toppled as easily as Ash himself would pick a daisy.

"Giratina! What are you doing?!" Ash yelled, "That tree almost hit Pikachu."

Giratina shook her head and snarled "He isn't getting off that easy."

"What do you mean?! I won't let you hurt Pikachu!" Ash yelled, standing in front of the mouse with his arms wide open. He'd protect Pikachu from anything. Giratina was no exception.

Expecting to be roasted by one of the renegade's powerful will-o-wisps, Ash was more than a little surprised when Giratina turned her back on the pair and hissed,

"Shock me like that again and I swear you'll regret it."

"Huh?" Ash blinked, not really sure what he'd missed. Everything had happened too quickly for his slow, still half asleep brain. Pikachu twitched his ears in shame. He'd apologise later when she wasn't ready to roast him to a black crisp. The analogy reminded the electric type of how Ash looked whenever he was on the wrong end of a thunderbolt. Ash meanwhile was looking between Pikachu and Giratina, trying to work out just what was going on. When it was clear that no amount of head scratching would make the situation any clearer, the teenaged trainer extended his arm to let Pikachu clamber up on his shoulder. With Pikachu in his usual position Ash called up to Giratina.

"Uh… what are we going to do? I haven't travelled much at night before…"

Giratina didn't answer, she didn't feel the need. Instead she just started travelling west. Ash yelled after her, something about getting some food, but Giratina ignored him. Her patience was at breaking point, and the only thing stopping her from ditching the pair was the prospect of having to deal with the next batch of humans herself. Annoyed at the lack of response, but not really wanting to ask a third time, Ash started off after Giratina. Pikachu's stomach was churning. He was starting to get the feeling that maybe this partnership wouldn't be as good for the pair as he'd previously thought. Ash wasn't equipped to deal with such a powerful companion… he didn't have the eloquence to prevent Giratina from blowing up in his face. If that happened even he and the other five pokemon Ash had with him, Gible, Snivy, Infernape, Totodile and Noctowl, would be no match for the enraged legendary.

While his most trusted partner as fretting for his safety, Ash was seething. The old Ash would have been delighted to have a legendary like Giratina as a travelling companion. Even with her attitude problems and clear dislike of the situation, he'd have relished in the company. The current Ash however, just felt angry. He hadn't made Giratina come with him. She could have gone back to her Reverse world and let him do this. Now, more than ever, he wished that he hadn't been alone all those years. It had hurt… to suddenly find himself without company on his adventures.

After Unova, he'd travelled to a new region. However, before he'd caught even a single pokemon… he'd returned to Kanto. Professor Oak had been worried, but Ash had been able to stave off his questions. He just… hadn't been able to get into the journey without someone to share it with. He'd come to need that so badly, that even a few days longer than normal being alone had hurt. Calling up his old friends had crossed his mind many a time, but they were all on their own adventures and pursuing their own goals. It would be selfish of him to drag them through a region just for his own benefit. So, instead he'd revisited his old journey locations with the thought of retrying for the leagues.

Sadly though, that hadn't gone well. His passion and ingenuity for battle was gone. He still loved pokemon, but without his unique battling style he became predictable and easy to counter. At first he'd been able to wrangle up some inspiration, but last year, when he tried the Sinnoh league for the second time last year everything went wrong.

The trainer had read his every move and the broken trainer had been unable to think up a single counter. Knocked out in the first round without taking out a single pokemon, Ash had returned to Kanto. Pikachu had tried to ignite his spark by arranging battles between the pokemon. Even Charizard and Gliscor had been called to the lab, though Pidgeot had been unreachable for obvious reasons. Nothing had really worked… Even though Ash had been delighted to see both pokemon again, he just couldn't get into battling. Charizard hadn't been pleased with this, and several flamethrowers had been thrown the trainer's way. After a few months, Pikachu had been about to give up. Until that is, Giovanni began moving with his latest plan.

Ash had rushed out to Sinnoh to see what was going on. Even if he'd given up, there would be no way he'd allow Team Rocket to perform their dastardly deeds unhindered. Not that it had been much use. Now he was here… and wishing that things had been different. Maybe if he'd waited a little longer, he'd have met a companion and life would have continued as normal. Normal was a fairly relative statement where he was concerned. Meeting almost every legendary pokemon within each region, wasn't considered normal by most. Saving said legendary pokemon was definitely not considered normal.

He would have continued with his thoughts, but a familiar irate growl sounded from above him. It seems that, while locked in his thoughts, he'd slowed his pace. Looking right up into the burning scarlet eyes of Giratina, the teenager upped his pace again. The return of the thudding footsteps in his ears told him that Giratina had resumed walking.

To pass the time, since talking to Giratina was out of the question, Ash decided to try and practise holding a conversation with Pikachu.

"Pikachu… do you think you could say hello for me?"

Pikachu blinked, then decided to just roll with it and said _"Hello."_

"Pika…" Ash blinked, trying to memorise the "word". When he thought he had it, he asked "Now… can you ask 'how are you?'"

The electric pokemon complied once again, but the picture of utter confusion which contorted Ash's features made him regret it slightly. He'd done what he was asked, so why was his trainer so confused.

"That was just pika again!" Ash protested. "How can two different things be the same word?"

Pikachu turned his head looked pleadingly at Giratina, who was watching with a smirk twitching at the corners of her mouth.

"_Don't look at me. He's your trainer."_

Pikachu let out a heavy sigh then said "_Uh… If I apologise for accidentally zapping you… will you please help me out?"_

"_And here I thought you were smart,"_ Giratina said mockingly. _"I'll accept the apology… and get out of the way when I wake you. But I'm still leaving you on your own with this…"_

Pikachu debated for half a second whether it would be a good idea to try and zap her or not… The answer was a very resounding "Don't do it!" reverberating around within his skull. So he didn't. Rather than pick a battle that he and five more like him couldn't win; Pikachu returned his attention to Ash. Said trainer tried repeatedly to make sense of the few syllables that made up his pokémon's whole language. Eventually, even the distraction couldn't help Ash fight through his hunger and he collapsed down on a nearby rock. Pikachu wasn't feeling much better, slumped over Ash's head.

Before either of them could protest their hunger aloud however, a rain of fruits cascaded down around them. Ash immediately grabbed the nearest one, a large juicy apple, and began to tear into it with gusto. Pikachu was a little bit more refined, nibbling furiously on an oran berry. It was only when they were on their third piece that both trainer and pokemon looked up to see Giratina's scowl.

"Disgusting!" Giratina said "On two accounts."

"Just what's that meant to mean?" Ash asked through a mouthful of pear.

Another look of disdain passed over Giratina before she returned to her usual dagger like glare.

"It means… that you're eating like a starved pignite and aren't giving a thought for your other pokémon."

Ash immediately paled and let out his pokemon in a unified flash of light. The five all stretched and greeted their trainer- totodile doing so with a little dance.

"Hi guys! You hungry? There's enough here for everyone."

Pikachu grinned _"You guys almost never got any. So be thankful to Giratina…"_

"_Giratina?!" _Infernape asked, the vibrantly coloured flame pokemon staring at his fellow with eyes like saucers _"What's she doing here… and where are we?"_

"_Long story…"_Pikachu replied, not really wanting to explain it all to his awestruck teammates at the moment. He was hungry.

Ash looked out over his pokemon and said "Sorry for not letting you out guys… It's been a weird day… I guess now though would be a good time for you to meet Giratina. Say hi."

The pokemon turned to their trainer and were about to follow his command but couldn't find the mighty being that they were meant to be saying hi to. Seeing his team looking around in confusion Ash turned around himself to look. His dark eyes scanned the forest but couldn't find a thing. He doubted that she'd have left. If she was planning on leaving, why stay for so long. Deciding to leave it be, Ash dug back in to his meal. One by one his pokemon followed suit…except Pikachu.

The yellow mouse pokemon was still searching for Giratina, his sharp eyes striving to pick up her shape in the dark. After several scans he could just about make her out, but only before the moonlight glinted against her golden head armour for a moment. Feeling a weight he hadn't realised he had lift from his shoulders, Pikachu went back to eating. Giratina was fine, and clearly just wanted some time for herself.

Giratina sat down on her haunches and glared down at the silvery grass below her. She didn't want this… to be relying on a human to help her save her fellow legendary pokemon. Humans had caused the mess… and here she was, seeking one out. Ash had helped her in the past, so despite her aggression towards him she felt more at ease around him than any other human. The one she had allowed to exist in her world had been due to laziness, and related events had almost killed her.

Even worse than the near termination of her own life, an act of humans had taken away the one pokemon she held most dear and turned him against her… And now, barely a few years later… the very same thing could happen again…

Lost as she was in her thoughts, Giratina wasn't aware of her observer until he spoke, in a young yet mature voice full of confidence.

"And just what would the legendary pokemon Giratina be doing moping in a forest?"

Snapping her head up, Giratina had to blink once before she realised that it wasn't Ash looking at her. The human before had a red cap and jacket highlighted with white. He wore blue jeans similar to Ash and had the same messy jet black hair. The main difference though was the smirk that just brimmed with confidence… and his eyes- focused and determined.

"Red… Well, I guess that's the search over," Giratina said calmly, standing up to her full height and staring down at the human. Both he and the Pikachu standing next to him matched her harsh gaze with cool confidence.

**And it's all gonna start going down next chapter. Next chapter might be a bit slower. I have Uni stuff to attend to. Which sadly comes before updates. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Might as well say this now. If I do anything in my stories that you as a reader do not like, plotwise or character wise, please tell me and I'll try and work it out.**

**I'd like to take a moment now to thank everyone who has reviewed so far.**


	4. Chapter 4

Both trainer and legendary pokemon stared each other down. Giratina had faced this stare many times. It was the same stare that she met when a trainer had made their way through turnback cave and was preparing to catch her. She wasn't in the mood to fight, but the only way to avoid it would be to vanish to the reverse world. To do so however, was cowardly and they would have to work together anyway. She'd just have to beat down his team and show him how out of his depth he was. She'd done it countless times before; this would be no different.

"I think Professor Oak would love to be able to study Giratina… don't you think Pika?"

The pikachu couldn't help but sigh. _"Why do I think that you just want the challenge?"_

Giratina rolled her eyes at both comments then waved her wing dismissively. She'd let him try, and watch him fall in despair as every one of his pokemon fell at her attacks. He could be as good as he wanted, but there was no way she'd lose to a single human.

"You're confident. I guess that comes from being a legendary pokemon huh? Well, let's see how I stack up against the master of the reverse world."

"_That's mistress you uneducated kid." _Giratina muttered to herself. Humans couldn't get anything right about legendary pokemon could they? First they thought that she'd been banished to the reverse world for all of eternity. It had only been thirty three years that Arceus had removed her ability to travel between the dimensions. Suppressing a shudder as a dark cloud of emotion poured into her mind, the renegade glared down at Red. Now she really wasn't in the mood! But he was.

"I choose you… Poli!"

The pokeball burst open and a flash of white light came out, before forming into a pokemon. The stout figure was a dark blue with large muscular hands cloaked with white gloves. Easily it's most defining feature was the huge white circle encompassing the surface of its front. A large black swirl contrasted sharply with the white background.

Giratina almost growled. He was seriously using a poliwrath against her? Most trainers came at her with metagross or tyranitar… not a child's drawing.

Red grinned and said "Do you want the first move?"

Giratina shook her head. She might as well give him a chance to impress her. Right now she was placing even more doubt into her mind about this plan she and Ash had "agreed" on. Now she was wishing more than ever she'd refuted the plan and found one of her own.

"Okay then!" Red nodded, "Use Ice beam!"

Giratina saw the attack charging, but just waited for it. She'd taken Arceus' blizzard attack. This would be like a pinprick. The icy burst of blue energy struck her and Giratina could barely contain her surprise. Almost immediately the attack was sending spikes of freezing pain into the target area, just below her chest. Tensing all of the muscles in her six legs Giratina shoved upwards and launched her whole body up and back away from the attack. Before the beam could catch up with her, Giratina intercepted the attack with a dragon claw, ripping the attack to shreds with minimal effort.

Landing heavily back on the ground, she brought a clawed wing to the burning patch of ice on her body. Tearing the frozen water from her scales she winced as several came off, leaving a bloody patch behind. Rearing back her head, Giratina roared- directing all of her frustrations at her opponent. It was a trick that was very effective for someone like her.

Red thrust out his arm and ordered another ice beam. Poli was quick to obey him, but not quickly enough. His opponent had vanished into thin air; the ice beam sped straight through space and froze the bark of a tree solid.

"Stay sharp! It could be anywhere!" Red called to his pokemon. Twisting this way and that he tried to locate his quarry before it could perform a sneak attack. Hearing movement in the air he snapped his head upwards and yelled.

"Poli! Above you!"

"_What?" _the poliwrath yelped turning his large beady eyes above to the sky. The aura sphere that slammed down onto him exploded with such force that Red was thrown back against the ground. Leaping back to his feet the trainer called out for his pokemon, worry saturating his plea. When the obscuring cloud of smoke disappeared, poliwrath was lying in a large crater, completely unmoving.

"That was strong… Just as to expect from a legendary pokemon…" Returning his fainted pokemon to his pokeball he held it up and said softly "Thank you poli… return and have a good rest."

Giratina hovered above the human, flapping her wings slowly. He'd wounded her, but would not get the chance to do so again if she had anything to say about it. Formulating a plan in his mind, Red brought out his second pokemon.

"You're up Pika. We can win this…"

Pika jumped forward with an affirmation. The electric type looked up at Giratina, waiting on a command; he had a good idea of what his master's plan would be. Red looked at the distance between Pika and Giratina. He'd need to close that distance quickly without Giratina getting wind of his plan. The huge pokemon seemed to be confident even to the point of arrogance. This was it, the renegade's biggest weakness and Red had a plan to exploit it.

"Pika use quick attack!"

The mouse smirked and stayed put. He'd caught a small twist in Red's tone. Able to understand his master like he would understand one of his own species, Pika realised that Red didn't want him to attack. How he knew… he had no idea how… he just knew.

The stillness of the pikachu amused Giratina. What a blunder to make. Ghost pokemon were completely immune to normal type moves like quick attack. Not about to give them another free hit, the ghost dragon pokemon formed a claw from her wing once again. The reddish spikes started to glow violet as she prepared a dragon claw attack. Lunging towards the pikachu she swiped her claws at the small pokemon, the whoosh of air audible as the huge talons bore down on her prey.

Red smirked. This was just what he'd been waiting for!

"Pika! Dodge with quick attack then use toxic!"

Giratina cursed the second she heard that command. They'd lured her into a trap… She'd been overconfident after what she thought was an error on her opponent's part. Instead, she'd been the one to make the error! The legendary didn't have time to berate herself however as her shoulder was slammed with the poisonous attack.

Both the toxic attack and the momentum from her reckless dragon claw sent her crashing into the ground. Two sensations of sheer agony assailed her senses at once. First was the crushing pain as her whole weight slammed into the unwelcoming ground. The next bout was worse…a searing pain that caused her whole body to spasm. Toxic was an attack she'd met before, but always at the end of battle, when she was too exhausted to stop the attack being executed. Now though, the battle had just begun, and each spasm of pain would only get worse.

"Giratina!" a voice yelled that made her curse. She'd almost forgotten about Ash. Hoping she hadn't seen her error, Giratina shoved herself to her feet to give him a withering glare. Even though she was mad at herself and not the boy, it still didn't hurt to glare at him.

Red blinked at the interruption, turning his head towards the newcomer. The similarities between the boy and himself made Red start. Even down to the pikachu who was perched on his shoulder. Pika was staring at his master, waiting on another order. Red shook himself, he'd deal with the newcomer later. He had a battle to win.

"Pika! Use Thunder!"

Pika nodded and unleashed a powerful electric attack at Giratina. Seeing the attack coming, Giratina strained to move to the side to avoid it. However she was stopped from moving by another paralysing bout of toxic. A clash of lightning suddenly occurred and the initial thunder was sent of course.

"What just happened?!" Red demanded, his roving eyes landing on Pikachu standing in a battle stance. Immediately he rounded on Ash.

"Why'd you interfere! It's my battle."

"I didn't! Pikachu did, but I won't let you catch Giratina. Legendary pokemon shouldn't be caught! It's not right!" Ash exclaimed.

"What makes legendary pokemon any different from catching a rattata."

"Do not compare me to a Rattata!" Giratina snapped, unable to contain herself. "And Pikachu! Stay out of this! I do not need anyone's help to fend off some chumped up trainer!"

"I'm not just any chumped up trainer. I'm the pokemon champion of this region."

"Good for you," Giratina snorted, only to let loose an ear piercing scream as the toxic became so agonising that it drove her to her knees.

Red allowed a small smirk to play over his features. "And… I win. With only two pokemon. I'm actually disappointed."

Slowly and deliberately, the trainer pulled a pokeball out of his belt and lobbed it at Giratina. The ball soared through the air before descending down on Giratina. Ash watched in horror as the ball approached Giratina, everything seeming to move in slow motion. Time slowed to a crawl as the ball moved towards the renegade legendary who was bent down with her head to the ground.

Pikachu lunged forward, intending to intercept the ball when Giratina snapped a dragon claw up into the air and shredded the metal into ribbons. As the glittering debris fell to the ground, the renegade forced herself to her feet. Her stance was wobbly, but Giratina wasn't about to give up just because of one poison attack.

"I… guess I misjudged," Red nodded. "I'm glad."

"You won't be…" Giratina snarled as she took off into the air. Pika followed her, his gaze hard and unwavering. He knew all about her shadow force technique now, and wouldn't fall to it as poliwrath had.

"Pika! Come back…" Red started, but Giratina growled "First… you get one thunderbolt attack, to make up for the one Pikachu blocked."

"Giratina! What are you doing?!" Ash yelled.

"_Don't be a fool! You're hurt already! You'll lose if you let pride get in the way!"_

"_I know what I'm doing! I won't be able to live with myself if I have to win with help. Just let it go!"_

Pikachu wanted to protest, but Red cut him off.

"How noble of you… Okay, Pika use thunderbolt!"

Pika nodded and let loose a second burst of lightning energy towards the large dragon pokemon. As promised, Giratina let the attack hit. Due to her typing its effectiveness was thankfully limited, but in her state any damage was too much. Gritting her fangs the legendary shook off the electric charge. Now that all bets were off she formed a bluish ball of flames in front of her jaws.

"Pika! Dodge that," Red ordered. Pika nodded and leapt to the side. The attack was too strong, and just like the aura sphere created a large explosion that encompassed such an area it made even Pika unable to avoid the blow fully. Red leapt forward to catch his Pikachu before he slammed into the ground.

"I recall Pika." he stated, and I'll send out… Vee!"

The espeon appeared in a flash of light to stare up at Giratina. Previously an experiment of team rocket as an eevee, this pokemon had become powerful under Red's care. Another searing pain from the toxic tore another scream from Giratina's lips. Ash turned away, his hat hiding his eyes. He wanted to help her… but Giratina would never let him… She needed help, but refused to accept it.

"You don't look like you can take much more…" Red said calmly.

"I won't… lose…" Giratina breathed weakly, barely moving her mouth. Toxic was taking a heavy toll on her, and she couldn't hold out forever against attacks from within herself.

No! Giratina screamed to herself… She would not lose! She couldn't… if she lost now…then she'd be at Red's whim… unable to save her fellow legendary pokemon… her… friends. Every fibre of her being rebelled against the action, but Giratina did it anyway. Vanishing from sight, she reappeared behind Vee, aiming to take out the espeon with one super effective shadow force. Unfortunately, Red had other plans, and quickly recalled Vee. With no moves that would really affect Giratina, he wouldn't be useful in this fight. What he had done, was force the legendary to weaken herself by using an attack. Noticing the switch, Giratina knew she had to vanish again able to do so just as another burst toxic racked through her form.

"Go Saur!" Red called, and released the venusaur that had once been the bulbasaur he'd received as a gift from Professor Oak.

"Charge solar beam and then fire it where Giratina reappears!"

Saur gave his confirmation of the command and began to follow it. As the solar beam charged, Giratina remained hidden in the shadows.

"_Done!" _Saur declared as his second strongest move became ready for use.

Red was keeping his eyes peeled for Giratina's reappearance, looking for the small flash which preceded the renegade exiting the shadows. It never came; instead Saur was thrown off his feet by a shockwave appearing out of nowhere and seemingly from nothing. The powerful wave of force ruined Saur's concentration and his attack dissipated.

"Saur! You okay?!" Red asked, before movement caught his eye.

The flash he'd been waiting for. How had Giratina done that? It had somehow attacked his pokemon without revealing itself. Red turned his attention to Saur, who had just managed to right himself. This didn't last though, as Giratina slammed into the Venusaur with her signature attack. She'd used it three times in rapid succession, which had cost her dearly. Her trip to the reverse world and her change of form hadn't done anything to nullify toxic's effect. Rather it had left her open to another wave before she could leave and slip into shadow force again. This had caused another spike of searing agony. Unable to scream, Giratina had slammed her teeth down on her own tongue. Hot metallic blood was filling her mouth.

Toxic was reaching intensity so powerful that she couldn't even think through the burning agony. Desperate to end this battle before she was struck down by toxic, Giratina sent forth a will-o-wisp towards venusaur.

The two powerful attacks, combined with the fall were sufficient to put the grass type out of the battle. At least in Red's mind. He returned his friend and was about to send in his fifth pokemon, when Giratina collapsed to the earth with a shuddering thud.

She'd failed… She was about to become the pet of a human… and there was nothing she could do about it. Her mistake had cost her dearly, and now one of the most devastating poison attacks was tearing at her body, shattering the last vestiges of her strength. Closing her eyes, Giratina let out a shuddering gasp as one final stab of toxic brought her out of consciousness and into a world of blackness…

**And cliffhanger! I thought this'd be a good place to stop, leave you all guessing a bit. Let me know what you think of this chapter. It's been a while since I've done a fight scene and I also wanted this to be different from a normal pokemon battle. I'm sorry if there's too much dialogue for you, but in case the last few chapters didn't emphasise that, it's how I roll. This was more of a Giratina chapter. Next one will be an Ash chapter.**

**Please tell me what you think of this chapter, and if it's not too much hassle… please put a bit more in your reviews than just that you enjoyed the chapter and want an update. I'm glad you like my story, but I really do need some feedback. If I don't get it then I'll never get better and I know for sure I'm far from perfect.**


	5. Chapter 5

Plans, and New Help.

Red stared towards the limp form of Giratina. All he'd have to do was throw a pokeball and chances are it would be his. He readied the throw but lowered his arm a moment later. The battle hadn't satisfied him… Pika blinked and stared up at the teen, who shrugged.

"I don't really know. Just doesn't feel right."

"Giratina! Wake up!" Ash yelled, dashing over to check on the fallen legendary. Giratina's sides were rising up and down slightly, in a haggard, irregular pattern. Pikachu frantically started to shake the dragon pokemon, but she didn't stir. Furious, Ash whirled on Red.

"That was too far!"

"It was a battle," Red protested. "It knew what it was getting into it."

"_She's not an it!" _Pikachu snapped, static sparking at his crimson cheeks.

Red looked to Pikachu and held up his hands "Woah, no need to get into a tizzy. I'm not going to catch it… That's what you want isn't it."

"I think…" Ash said, though he couldn't really feel certain "That Pikachu was upset about you referring to Giratina as an it."

Pikachu gave a confirming nod.

The other trainer blinked "Okay… Anyway…"

"Why were you battling with Giratina anyway?!" Ash demanded. "If not to catch her that is!"

"For the sake of battling…" Red shrugged then walked over to his downed adversary. "She's pretty good. Not as strong as I expected, but I've never seen a pokemon survive toxic for anywhere near as long as she did."

Kneeling down next to Giratina's head he gently placed a pale pink berry on her tongue. Instinctively, she swallowed the pecha berry. Nodding Red stood back up "She'll be fine now…"

Ash looked at Giratina. Her breathing was looking deeper and more regular. Not that he knew anything about this sort of thing… That had always been Brock's area of expertise. Giratina could be dying and he wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. Clenching his fist, Ash dug his fingernails into his palm until they cut the skin. He was useless by himself, and instead of dealing with it, he'd wallowed in his own misery. Sixteen and he still didn't have a clue how to stand on his own two feet. Slumping against Giratina, he pressed into her warm scales and tried to clear his mind of his misery.

"You don't look so good…" Red stated. "What you doing out in the forest anyway? With a legendary pokemon no less. That isn't something you see every day."

"The reason isn't something you hear every day…" Ash muttered.

"Maybe not, but that's what makes it interesting." Red grinned as he squatted down. "Things have gotten a bit dull round here recently."

Ash sighed then looked to Red "We came for your help."

"My help?" he asked. "What do you need my help with?"

"It's… complicated," Ash replied to which Red laughed.

"So is a lot of things in life… But sometimes you just gotta try and explain them."

"I… guess so… Well, y'see the thing is… I'm not from this world."

The other trainer grinned slightly, "I guess that's where Giratina comes in. Given that she has the ability to traverse the dimensions."

Ash nodded. "Yeah… Team Rocket has managed to capture all the legendary pokemon. They can do anything they wanted unless they're stopped!"

"Wait… you mean they managed to capture _every _legendary pokemon?" Red asked incredulously. When he'd taken down this world's team rocket, they'd only been able to acquire Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno. If one didn't count Mewtwo, which was acting of its own accord. Having all of the legendary pokemon would make them much more dangerous.

"What brought you across dimensions to me?" Red asked, but he thought he knew.

"Well… we read that you and a few friends had been able to disband team rocket in this world… so… I had the idea to ask for your help."

Red nodded slightly. "Well... I know I'm in. I'll help pokemon in any world, dimension or time if I have to. And I'm sure my friends will be able to help. They're off traveling on their own though. Meaning it could be a chore to find them. I'm stronger than I was when I disbanded team rocket and defeated their leader but from your accounts, they're gotten much more dangerous."

"They are… they even managed to capture Arceus!"

"I figured that when you said they had them all… Can you tell me how they managed such a feat? It seems… beyond any human ability."

Ash nodded and started to describe the cages that Team Rocket had manufactured. Neither trainer could really imagine how a cage could be made so strong that it could contain the god of all pokemon. Looking at Giratina, Red said.

"She'll probably be out for another hour or so. We should probably let her wake up on her own accord."

Pikachu nodded for Ash. Giratina would probably wake up in a bad enough mood… Provoking her anymore could easily land at least one of them in a hospital. Ash gave a nod as well "What should we do for that time?"

Red thought for a moment then came up with an idea.

"Why don't you show me your pokemon? Your Pikachu's pretty tough to stop Pika's attack."

"Thanks!" Ash grinned then rubbed his partner's head "Yeah… Pikachu's one awesome pokemon. But all my pokemon are awesome. C'mon out guys!"

Ash released his pokemon for the second time, and they all appeared in front of him. Giving a unified exclamation of greetings, they looked at Red. Nodding, Ash informed them.

"Guys. This is Red, he's the one we came here to find."

The pokemon nodded and waved to the trainer. Red threw out five of his own pokeballs, revealing his powerful team. Four of the pokemon Ash had already seen battle Giratina, with the other two being a huge Snorlax and a ferocious looking Aerodactyl.

"This is Pika, Vee, Saur, Aero, Poli and Snor." Red introduced, "My most powerful team. It was with Poli, Pika and Saur that I became the champion of Kanto."

"That's really cool. You're incredibly strong."

"So people tell me. And it must be true, because I'm hardly ever pushed anymore. Very few trainers can get anywhere near pushing me to my limits. While the title is nice, the battles are pretty boring."

"Can't say I've ever had that feeling." Ash chuckled slightly then continued "Every battle I've been in has been intense."

"_Even that one with metapod vs metapod?" _Pikachu grumbled, causing the other pikachu to stare incredulously.

"_Your trainer actually tried to use metapod against a metapod? That's…"_

Pikachu nodded sagely. _"I know… He was a beginner at the time… but that doesn't excuse it…"_

"_How long did the battle last?"_

"_Hours!"_ Pikachu exclaimed. _"Both trainers ended up passing out. It was embarrassing!"_

Pika gave a blink, and then fell over laughing. _"That would have been hilarious to see!"_

"_It wasn't…"_ Pikachu muttered, shaking his head.

"_I'll take your word for it."_

"The two pikachu's seem to be getting along. What's his name?" Red asked.

"Uh… I'm… not really one for nicknames. Pikachu's just that… Pikachu. I always think that naming them means treating them like pets… My friend Ritche… Never mind…" Ash murmured. He didn't need to think of the friends he'd lost…

Red decided it'd be best to ignore the abrupt end and said. "Fair enough. Everyone has their own opinions. And about your team… I notice that half of your pokemon haven't evolved past their first stage… You do realise they'd become much stronger through evolution? It would help against Team Rocket certainly."

"I know about that… I know that evolution makes a pokemon stronger… but I also know that some pokemon just don't want to evolve… If my pokemon want to evolve they will… Otherwise I'm happy with them as they are."

"Hmm… Fair enough…" Red acknowledged. "Forcing a pokemon to evolve is wrong. It was just a suggestion."

"I do have some pokemon that are fully evolved… like my Infernape, or my Sceptile and Charizard."

"A charizard? Reminds me of Blue… Was he your starter pokemon?"

"Nope. I… kinda… got up late. The only pokemon was left was Pikachu. We didn't get along at first, but once we got to really know each other… things were awesome. I wouldn't change that day for the world."

"A good thing came out of a mistake." Red nodded with a small smile. "The same happened with me. I wouldn't have gotten Saur if I hadn't accidentally released all of the pokemon in professor's Oaks lab."

"There's a professor Oak in this world too?!" Ash exclaimed. "That's… just… wow! I wish I could see what else was similar… and what's different of course."

Pikachu perked up his ears. Ash was talking of adventure they way he had when he was ten. Noticing the sudden change in Pikachu's behaviour, Pika asked.

"_Hey, you okay?"_

"_Huh? Oh… Yeah. Just, thinking about something."_

"_Right… Care to share?"_

"_Not sure… I mean… I'm not sure at the minute what to make of it. I'll tell you later. Since we'll probably be travelling together for a while."_

Pika rolled his eyes. _"Most likely. Just don't slow us up."_

"_I'd suggest you don't slow Giratina up. She has a scary temper."_

"_She doesn't seem that tough. Red beat her pretty easily."_

"_Using four pokemon, and poison!"_ Pikachu almost shouted. _"It took her a mere one attack to knock you and Poli out of the battle."_

Not really expecting such a violent defense Pika was left speechless; Pikachu was already up on Ash's shoulder once again anyway.

"What's up Pikachu?" Ash asked, turning to look at his friend in concern. Pikachu just shook his head and nuzzled Ash. Rubbing the electric type's head he turned back to Red.

"You have any idea where to start looking for your friends? Or how long it'll take…"

"Well… if we fly then it won't take that long… a week at most."

Ash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I… don't really have any pokemon that can fly me anywhere… and Giratina is a bit finicky with when and when she doesn't let me ride on her."

"Aero can lift the both of us… and Giratina can follow behind. Though she'll attract a lot of unwanted attention. Shouldn't be a problem, but it would slow us down a fair bit."

"I'll deal with that…" Giratina drawled from behind and above them.

"You're awake." Ash smiled before he could help himself. She'd been nasty and bitter, but he was still glad she was okay.

The reply was short and crude "Duh."

"You okay?" Red asked, looking up at the legendary.

He was met with a glare and a simple nod. Looking to Ash he grinned.

"I don't think she likes me."

Before Ash could respond to say anything to the contrary, whether he was going to or not, Giratina said icily.

"Perceptive."

"That would freeze Moltres," Red replied with a chuckle. "I guess we'd better go to sleep for a bit… then head out in the morning."

"Fine," Giratina snorted, and then did something that shocked both boys. She bathed her body in a shimmering light and started to shrink. Red, Ash, Pika and Pikachu watched as the shape they knew as Giratina twisted and changed into one that was both familiar… and weird.

Giratina finished her transformation and the violet light faded. In place of a massive dragon was a human in her late teens, about eighteen or nineteen. Long dirty blond hair fell to the small of her back, and was held back from her face by a golden headband. A similar band of gold metal adorned her neck. Her attire was simple, a plain long sleeved grey dress that fell to her knees and was brought in at the waist by a dark red sash tied around her. On her feet was a pair of simple sandals.

Narrowing her still fiery red eyes, the human guised legendary pokemon folded her arms across her chest and grumbled.

"No need to gawk like a bunch of morons. I won't attract attention looking like this. And for travel I'll use the Reverse world. Sorted. Now, get to sleep. I'll be getting you up early."

Leaving the threat hanging in the air, Giratina curled up under a tree. Even after having slept that day, she was tired after that battle. Red and Ash stared at each other, and then joined her in lying down under trees. They chose trees a little ways away from Giratina… Ash for one didn't want to get woken again the way he had last time. Staying far away from the volatile legendary seemed to be a good plan. Both pikachu snuggled up against their masters while the other pokemon settled down around the mismatched trio.

Giratina and Ash were lying away from each other, but both were thinking the same thing… What would tomorrow bring… and what was going on back home?

**And that's chapter 5. Sorry it's a bit shorter. Please give me your input. I'm really not sure how well I did in this chapter. **

**Yes Giratina has a human form that she will be using moderately often. If you all have a problem with that, then I'll try and work to lessen the impact. I just think it gives a new light from the big imposing dragon, particularly for some of the later emotional stuff.**

**Sorry for this chapter being a day late… I lost my bearded dragon to old age yesterday and it threw me off a bit.**


	6. Chapter 6

Lessons, and a Shaky Partnership.

Unsurprisingly, Giratina woke before the boys. Looking up at the sky, she grumbled. It was still dark… She could wake them up, but they'd complain and she really wasn't in the mood for whining. So… she laid her head back down on her hands and stared up at the stars. They were the same as those in… well… it wasn't her world was it? She didn't have a world other than the reverse world and there were no stars there.

She laid there… thinking about her place in the universe. Up until now it had always been clear to her, but now she wasn't so sure. Giratina had always been a name people associated with anger and violence, the secluded ruler of the reverse world who took no prisoners. But what was she now? She didn't really know… Her world was in a state of total disrepair… no doubt due to the havoc Giovanni was wreaking on the "real" world with his newfound power.

Ash meanwhile was sleeping fitfully, his thoughts plagued with horrific images of his mum, friends and pokemon in trouble. These images flashed around in his head, each become more and more distorted as his mind started to run riot with his subconscious emotions. The boy smacked his head hard against the tree he'd been using as a head rest but still he did not wake, too trapped up in his nightmares to register the pain.

Hearing the thud of bone hitting wood, Giratina looked over at Ash and saw his thrashing. Pikachu wasn't awake yet… he'd thankfully fallen over and was slumped out of range. Giving a bitter sigh, the renegade stood up and walked over to Ash. The motion aggravated her injuries from her fight with Red, most of which were internal thanks to the punishing effects of toxic. Being a legendary pokemon would aid in the healing process substantially, but for now she couldn't let it slow her down. Pushing a strand of her dark gold hair out of her eyes, she tried to work out the best way to stop the kid hurting himself… without anything embarrassing happening. She could change form… but then she'd probably squish him.

Kneeling down next to Ash, Giratina put her hands on his wrists and pinned them down with her weight. That would stop her getting punched, but now she had no idea what to next…it wasn't like she was Cresselia or anything. In fact she was practically the opposite. Deciding the best thing to do would be to wake him up, she did just that. Removing her hands from his wrists, she made to shake him awake.

Unfortunately, life had other plans. Ash's free arms immediately latched onto her and yanked her down on top of him. Giratina squirmed and tried to pull away, but Ash kept his sleepy grip on her, pulling her into a hug. Immediately Ash's inner self was able to shake of the plaguing thoughts and was filled with warmth. Even if he had no idea why he felt warm, he wanted it more and pulled Giratina into a tight hug.

The renegade immediately wanted to change form and stomp the human into the dirt. It took every ounce of her self-restraint to not do as she wanted and instead just… wait for him to let her go. Even in human form she could easily break more than one bone in his body if she succumbed to fury. Planting her hands on the ground, Giratina held herself up, to stop him being able to press her against him. Her reasons for this were obvious; humans really had an odd anatomy. So odd that even if it was foreign to you, one would still get embarrassed about it.

She stayed there until her arms started to cramp. Okay, enough was enough and Giratina had had enough. Letting out a low growl, Giratina wrenched herself free from his grasp. Ash however didn't let go in time, and he was brought up with her. His arms finally let go, but by that time he was already off the ground; and then gravity took effect. With a soft thump, Ash landed back in the dirt. Coming awake with a loud groan, the boy opened his eyes. Coming face to face with Giratina he leapt to his feet and said quickly.

"I'm up! I'm up!"

Giratina growled and shook her head, hair tossing back and forth. When it settled back down around her shoulders, she shook her head.

"I'm not getting you up just yet. But you were having a nightmare or something. So I tried to hold you down so you didn't hurt yourself."

She had left out the part of the hug. He didn't need to know, and she didn't want him to know.

"Uh… well… thanks…" Ash nodded "Sorry if I woke you up because of it."

"I doubt you did," Giratina shrugged, and then said "You've got about an hour before I actually wake you up. So you might as well use it."

"Uh… okay. Thanks for the warning," Ash nodded, and curled up once again. He didn't have any intention of going back to sleep however…the nightmares were just too vivid. Lying awake, he heard Giratina move back to her own tree. He was grateful that she'd woken him up, but a lot of him wanted her to stay next to him. She made him feel safer and more secure… even if she could easily turn on him if he pushed too many of her buttons.

Despite his reservations, Ash did actually doze back off. Unfortunately, or maybe it was a good thing, Giratina was shaking him awake almost as soon as he managed to do so. While it was a bit nicer than the whole stomp on the ground thing, he still wished he didn't have to be woken up at all. However, they did have an important task ahead of then and it was only just beginning. So maybe being woken up early was a good thing. Still didn't have to be a pleasant thing.

Ash groaned and stood up, just in time to see Giratina wake Red by pouring streamwater over him. Now he was really glad all he'd gotten was a simple shake. Laughing aloud at Red's violent awakening, he gently roused Pikachu. Clearly Giratina didn't want another shocking. Pikachu opened his eyes and gave a yawn before smiling up at his trainer. Ash smiled back, before returning to laughing at Red, then at Giratina.

It seemed that even though she'd avoided a shock from one pikachu, she hadn't avoided the second. Some of the stream water had splashed over Pika, and he'd reacted very violently to the rude awakening. Both Red and Giratina were engulfed in a flash of electrical discharge. When it was done, both were quivering slightly. Giratina was the first to recover, rounding on Pika. For a few moments she glared at the yellow pokemon with a look that could stop a herd of rampaging Tauros before turning on heel and saying to the two trainers.

"You have five minutes to get something to eat and start flying." Giratina snorted. "I'll be waiting."

So saying she changed form and opened a portal to the Reverse world. Ash looked to Red "Uh… do you think we have time to get breakfast?"

Red grinned "I'd say so. Even if she does complain I'll just beat her again."

Ash nodded then picked a couple of berries, making sure they were of the same variety as the selection he'd been given by Giratina last night. Handing some to red, he gave some to Pikachu, then the rest of his pokemon. Like Ash, Red distributed the berries among his team. They ate quickly, but only stopped when a will-o-wisp appeared out of nowhere and reduced a nearby rock formation to rubble and dust. Chuckling nervously, Ash muttered.

"I… think that was our warning shot."

Red shrugged and swallowed his mouthful "Okay. Guess we better please her and get moving."

Returning all of his pokemon but Aero and PIka, he motioned for Ash to do the same. The other trainer did so, with Pikachu taking up his usual perch on Ash's shoulder.

"Okay. Let's go!" Red grinned as he hopped up onto Aero. Ash leapt up after him.

"Can Aero really carry two people?" he asked.

"Sure can, he can even carry my whole team if need be."

"Wow… That's awesome!" Ash exclaimed. "Your pokemon are all really strong."

"Yep, and it's all the result of friendship and hard training over years. I'd love to battle you… someone singled out by Giratina must be special… but for now… I think we'd better focus on making sure you have a world to go back to."

"Yeah… that would be a good idea." Ash nodded.

"Mhmm… Aero. Let's go find Blue, Green and Yellow."

The aerodactyl gave a nod and flapped his massive leathery wings- launching himself into the sky. Like a streak of grey lightning the trio tore through the air, covering ground at a phenomenal rate. Every now and then they would pass over a lake and Ash would look down at their reflections. Often a dark ripple would appear, and a black and red shadow would flash across for a moment. Ash nodded slightly whenever he saw this, it meant Giratina was okay and still following. Why she wouldn't be… he didn't know but it was always nice to have a little bit of assurance.

They had been flying for over seven hours, when Red finally called a halt and told Aero to land. After a quick rest and lunch they were on their way again. After several more hours of flying, Red saw the red head he was looking for, and ordered Aero to land. When he did, Ash was so taken aback by the sight that he almost fell off the fossil pokemon.

Looking up at him, or rather… the trainer next to him was a boy with a striking resemblance to his old rival Gary. The difference was the narrowed eyes, and the frown, compared to Gary's more cocky smirk. Blue addressed his rival, ignoring Ash for a moment.

"What brings you to find me?"

Red grinned and jumped off Aero "You'll never believe it."

"Maybe not, but if you don't tell me then I really won't believe it," Blue snorted.

Red chuckled and relayed Ash's tale to his friend. Throughout the story, Blue stayed impassive keeping his usual scowl plastered on his face. When it was done he raised an eyebrow before asking.

"You… seriously expect me to believe that?"

"Yes, we do." Giratina growled as she thudded down behind the boy.

Blue immediately whirled around, glaring at Giratina. The renegade glared back before saying

"It's all true."

"Even the fact that Red managed to beat you?" Blue asked with a small sneer playing on his mouth.

Giratina uttered a low hiss from deep within her throat, but nodded.

"I'm… impressed," Blue said blandly, and then turned to Ash.

"And I guess you're the one who needs the help?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am." Ash nodded.

"Hmm… well… I suppose if Red's going to help you. I might as well… it'll give me a chance to see how I match up to a legendary pokemon too."

"Okay. Now that that's sorted, can we get going before we lose any more time?" Giratina asked bitterly, folding her wings across her chest. Her left back knee gave a tremble as pain wracked through her body. She was still recovering from her crushing defeat at the hands of Red and toxic.

Red shrugged "Yeah yeah keep your scales on. Aero needs a rest you know. And it's really starting to get dark."

"The dark isn't something that I can allow to stop me. If you intend on staying here, I'll leave you and your friends here and do it myself." Giratina growled, but was quickly shot down by Blue.

"If you could do that… then you wouldn't be here in the first place. Acting all tough won't help anyone, and neither will pushing on blindly. If we need to find Green and Yellow… then travelling by night is pointless. They'll be sleeping somewhere out of the way."

Giratina gave a bitter huff and turned away. "Fine," she snapped. "Do what you will."

Changing back into her human form she stormed into the forest. She couldn't even look at them. One victory and they were treating her like she was some common lacky. If it hadn't been for that cheap toxic move tearing at her insides, she'd have torn his whole team to pieces before his eyes. That would have wiped that cocky smirk off his face. Bitterly kicking at a rock she slumped down behind a tree and stared into the darkness. Why did she have to rely on humans… why did life have to throw her in chains and make her feel as helpless as a new-born? She couldn't beat the human, and trying would probably lead to her being humiliated once again.

Cursing her own emotions violently the renegade started to smack her head back against the tree. Why? Simple, she was angry and had to take it out on someone- even if that someone happened to be herself. Only when she felt a warm trickle of blood on her neck did she stop the painful procedure. The action had replaced her rage with pain, but that wasn't a sensation that was new to her. Bringing her knees up to her chest, Giratina let her eyelids droop over her blood red eyes. Like Pikachu said, she'd be able to deal with the problem of humans when it was the only thing she had to worry about.

Speaking of the electric pokemon, Giratina opened her eyes when a warm body pressed against her chest. Looking down, she saw Pikachu looking up at her, and giving her some sort of weird pikachu hug. Adopting her usual glare she asked.

"_What?"_

"_You… uh… seemed a bit… angry… well… okay… a lot angry. So I followed you."_

"_Well I'm fine. So you can go back to your trainer now."_

"_Actually he's right here…" _Pikachu said carefully. He felt all his muscles tense as he waited on Giratina's reaction to this bit of news. Humans seemed to be on her bad list, and if she lashed out… Pikachu didn't want to think about what would happen.

However her reaction surprised Pikachu, because instead of getting angry, Giratina instead just looked up to Ash and waited on him speaking. He could feel her breathing quicken as the rise and fall of her chest became more pronounced. She was either trying to control her emotions, or her pain.

Ash paused a moment to make sure she was listening, then asked gently.

"Hey… uh… are you okay?"

Giratina didn't really trust herself to respond, so she just gave a nod. She clearly wasn't okay, but she had to pretend she was- even to herself. Letting her silly emotions get the better of her at a time like this would be stupid of her. Ash sighed and knelt down next to her.

"You're bleeding." He stated needlessly.

Giratina gave a snort but again didn't reply verbally. There was nothing he could really do about it anyway. He was totally useless- unable to even get his own food. Reaching up, she touched the bloodied spot in her hair and winced. The spike in pain had been intense, more intense than she'd have thought. Placing her hand down, she turned back to Ash, who was rummaging in his backpack. Curious, Giratina stood up to go over, but the injuries she'd obtained in her battle with Red all seemed to scream at her at once. Coupled with her self-inflicted wound they quickly rendered her movement void and forced her to sit.

Ash was staring at the bandage in his trembling hands. Giratina would need this, but he could barely remember how to put one on… Brock or Iris had always been the medical ones, and Ash hadn'treally paid much attention to what they taught him. Naively, he had thought that they would always be around to help him. Steeling himself, the trainer walked over to his legendary companion and proceeded to apply the bandage.

Eye's wide, Giratina tried to stare up at Ash. Was he really doing what she thought he was? If he couldn't even decide what berries were good to eat… then how would he know how to do first aid. Turning her eyes down to a more comfortable level, she decided to let this play out. If he succeeded it was a learning curve that he was capable of surviving on his own if only he would apply himself. If not, then it would still show him how much he had to learn if he wanted to be the pokemon master of his dreams. Being able to train pokemon wasn't enough; one also had to be able to stand on their own two feet to be great. In her long lifetime, Giratina had seen several beings, pokemon and humans alike, with the ability to excel in their chosen field. But some were always weighed down by a single, common error. They were unable to fend for themselves and survive in what could be a cold, harsh world. Ash would easily fall into that category if he allowed himself to.

Said trainer was fumbling a bit. He'd been able to wrap the bandage around easily enough. It wasn't elegant, but at least it was functional. The hard part came in tying it off without ruining his progress. He'd forgotten to leave aside a strip to use in order to tie the long end to in order to close the bandage.

"What's wrong?" Giratina asked, having felt him pause.

"I… I'm not really sure how I'm meant to finish this." The boy said uncertainly.

"Hmmph. Well I can't see it from here obviously. If you have two ends then just tie them together."

"Oh…you were meant to leave the short end out…" Ash muttered sheepishly.

"Yes…" Giratina snorted. "Idiot. Just undo it and start again."

"But then I'll ruin everything I've done."

"Oh don't whine about ruining everything. You learned from your damn mistake. That's something. Stop moping about what you can't do, and instead just work at them until you get there. Otherwise there's no point in dreaming if you fall at any hurdle."

"I do not!" Ash protested.

"Oh really? Then why have you failed in every single endeavour you've started since you're friends left. Simple, you stopped caring. You found that you couldn't do something and you didn't persevere. Instead you just let yourself wallow in your own misery. Well whoop de doo for you. Most of us can't do that. In fact, none of us can do that. I am sick and tired of seeing people fail because they curl up in a hole and mope."

The tirade had been bitter and violent, with Giratina spitting each word. She couldn't stand the kid's attitude anymore, and she was going to say something about it. If she had to rely on him to help her save everything she held dear, then she was not accepting him acting like a baby.

Every word Giratina uttered fell like a hammer blow on Ash's ears. She was right; he was being a selfish child. He'd gotten her into his mess, and he was expecting her, verbally or not, to do everything for him. Just like how he'd expected his friends to do everything for him before. Tears started to well up in his eyes as his own failures crashed down on him. He needed to change, but he was so helpless… how could he?

The first tear was making its way down his cheek when it was rubbed off in a single rough movement. Through his blurred vision he saw Giratina lower her arm. Thankfully her wings were pretty much immune to damage in her pokemon form, which meant in human forms her arms were fine. Ash blinked and rubbed away the rest of the moisture clinging to his eyes with his arm.

Giratina sighed and said in a tone much softer than her previous one.

"Look… I'm sorry for being so harsh, but that's how life is. Sometimes you have to stand on your own two feet and face what's coming. You're not going to have someone to stand next to you all the time."

"I know…" Ash nodded "And I'm really gonna try and learn. But I'm… gonna need someone to teach me."

"And I guess you want me to?" Giratina asked, turning to face him with a raised eyebrow.

"Well… yeah. Yes please…"

"Hmm… I… suppose… especially if we need to work together anyway… Okay. I'll help you out a little. But I will not baby you. You are much too old for that, and it completely defeats the purpose of the help."

"Got it!" Ash nodded, giving her his signature optimistic smile and thumbs up.

Rolling her eyes, Giratina narrowed them into a glare.

"You can celebrate my agreement after you try this bandage again."

Ash nodded and slowly unrolled the bandage before going to get another one. This time he made sure to leave himself a second tail to tie off the main body with. Once done he tied it off and stepped back to study his handiwork. He immediately had to stifle a laugh. The white band around her head made Giratina look completely ridiculous. Guessing that he was most likely laughing at her, Giratina hissed coldly.

"If you don't stop in the next three seconds I'll give you something to laugh about when you have to put bandages around your whole body."

Curtailing his laughter, Ash chuckled.

"Sorry… you just look really funny…" Then his face became serious, brown eyes hardened and stern. The change threw Giratina slightly as he continued. "It's a bad idea to hit yourself you know. You were hurt enough yesterday…"

"You noticed?" Giratina asked dryly before shrugged her shoulders "I suppose it is, but I needed to vent on something, and it was just me myself and me who was available. Now, as productive as this conversation was, I am going to sleep. Might as well make some use out of this down time."

"Okay. Night…" Ash nodded and went to lie down under a nearby tree. He wanted to stay near Giratina, in case she did anything reckless or hurt herself again. Red and Blue were catching up together anyway, and swapping battle strategies. Normally he'd love to listen in, but his heart still wasn't into battling like it once was. Plus, there were more important things to worry about at the minute. Like what Giovanni was doing back home. The thought once again turned his insides with worry.

Turning around, he watched as Giratina settled herself into a sleeping position. Part of him wanted to curl up next to her but she'd never allow it. And he seemed to be getting on slightly better terms with her though he could still feel a simmering resentment of the whole situation emanating from her. He wasn't sure of the cause yet, and he didn't think she'd open up and tell him any time soon. Not wanting to break the slight bond he thought he'd made with his powerful companion Ash went against his wants and made for another tree. Just as he was about to lay down he said gently.

"Even if it's necessary to stand on your own two feet, sometimes it's also necessary to let others help you. Everyone needs a friend sometimes and someone to stand at their back and support them."

Having heard this, Giratina raised her head- which caused it to throb angrily. She thought about the phrase for a moment, guessing that he was referring to her. However, just as she was parting her lips to say anything a small snore echoed around the area. Sighing, Giratina pushed the matter from her mind and laid her head back down and slowly drifted into slumber. Even despite the snoring.

**Sorry that chapter was a bit longer in coming, but it was also lengthier, so I hope that makes up for it somewhat. Enjoy. Next chapter we meet the other two manga characters and Giratina puts a few people in what is their place according to her.**


	7. Chapter 7

Tethers break and bonds form.

Ash's eyes snapped open. The crimson dawn light was just peeking over the horizon. Usually the first one up by a fair margin, Giratina was still sleeping peacefully. Smiling slightly, Ash stood and went to check on her. She was fine, and there was no leakage through the bandage from what he could tell. That was good.

Sitting back down in his usual spot, Ash gently stroked Pikachu's head absentmindedly. The pokemon was still asleep, but pressed against his trainer nonetheless. He waited until the sun had made its way completely over the horizon, and then looked to Giratina. This was usually the time that she'd wake them up… but she was still fast asleep. Now he had two choices: wake her up and incur her wrath, or not to wake her, and incur her wrath anyway. Faced with such a choice, he decided to get it over with and went to shake her awake.

Stopping to stare at her for a moment, he smiled slightly. She looked relaxed in her sleep, not like her usual countenance of anger and bitterness. Sighing, he knelt next to the renegade and gave her a shake. Immediately, his arm was locked in a vice-like grip. Straining to hold in a strangled cry, he felt Giratina's hand tighten around his arm. Hoping fervently that she didn't break his arm, Ash waited on her letting go.

Thankfully, she did after just a moment, when her brain registered who was shaking her. While her pride wouldn't let her apologise, she did have the ability to look at least slightly concerned. Noting the small change on her features, Ash nodded.

"I'm okay… you just scared me a bit there."

Giratina nodded slightly, before pushing herself to her feet. Her body protested, but, as usual, she ignored it and continued on. It was something she prided herself in being able to do, rather than just sit uselessly and wait for the pain to go away. Once on her feet, the renegade gave a small smirk.

"You aren't usually up before me," she said, looking at Ash with an amused twinkle somewhere in the cavernous depths of her eyes.

Ash gave a nervous chuckle and put a hand behind his head. "Yeah, I'm a bit surprised about that myself."

Rolling her eyes, the renegade jabbed a thumb at where she suspected Red and Blue had fallen asleep for the night.

"You want the honours?" she asked.

"Sure. Lemme just wake up Pikachu first," Ash replied as he walked over to wake the yellow mouse pokemon. When that was done, he walked over to Red and Blue. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to wake them up. A simple shake seemed like a good idea. It'd be a welcome surprise compared to what Giratina would have in store for them.

Putting his hands on Red's shoulders, he gave the boy a shake. Blearily, the champion of Kanto opened his eyes, expecting to see Giratina glaring at him. When he saw Ash instead, he grinned and sat up.

"She too lazy to wake me up herself? Or is she scared she'll get zapped again?"

"Neither," Giratina said as she walked by him. Picking a berry from a tree, she handed it to Pikachu, who was sitting on her shoulder. Ash blinked at this, but didn't comment. He wasn't as jealous as he usually was when Pikachu decided to show affection to his friends- or sided with them like he had with Misty in that gym battle all those years ago. Instead of dwelling on the past, he walked over to Blue and shook him awake. The teen awoke quickly and was already on his feet before Ash could turn back to retrieve his bag.

"So… I guess we find Green and Yellow today?" Red asked Blue when he'd finished rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"I assume so. Last I heard, they were traveling together. Don't know why."

"Ah, who cares about the why? It'll save some time, at least." Red grinned and stood up with Pika behind him. "Breakfast first, though," the trainer added.

"Five minutes," Giratina growled.

Blue folded his arms. "And just who put you in charge?"

"Me," Giratina stated simply. "And if you have any objections, I'll happily squash them, along with you."

"That'd be more impressive if Red hadn't already defeated you." Blue shrugged boredly, not even deigning to look at the legendary.

Unperturbed, Giratina allowed a smirk to play on her features, the closest she ever got to an actual smile. "Actually, it was his pokemon that defeated me, as it always is with trainers. So, unless his pokemon have any objections, you have five minutes."

She said it sweetly enough, but each word dripped with malice, and her eyes had the look of someone who was at the end of their tether. Red backed up slightly and raised his hands in a placating gesture. He saw the twisted look in her eye, and decided now would not be a good time to test how far she'd actually go. Maybe later he'd put her to the test.

Pika rolled his eyes and looked up at his master. He was being too cautious. The pokemon's cheeks sparked as he prepared to give Giratina a zap as punishment for threatening his trainer. Before he could unleash it however, Pikachu shouted down at him from the ghost dragon's shoulder.

"_Don't! You really don't wanna make her mad."_

"_You're too wimpish… you'll just inflate her ego. We've beat her before, so she's wounded… why are you so worried?"_

Pikachu shook his head and said in a level tone.

_"You should know how strong she is… it's Giratina we're talking about, second only to Arceus. One victory doesn't put you or your trainer above her, and if you don't back down, she'll make that abundantly clear to you both. I take it you haven't heard the phrase 'The wounded houndoom bites the hardest,' either?"_

"_I have, but it has little relevance here… Fine. I get your point, but get her to stop threatening Red."_

Having heard all of this obviously, Giratina gave a roll of her eyes then reached up to remove her bandages. Confused, Ash asked. "Did I mess up on them again?"

Giratina looked to him, then gave a little shake of her head, which hurt, so she quickly stopped.

"Not in particular. I just need to remove them to change form. Though, it's generally not a good idea to put a bandage over a piece of jewellery."

"Noted, though you didn't notice either." Ash nodded, then smiled at Pikachu. "Wanna go get breakfast, buddy?"

"_Yep."_ Pikachu nodded.

His trainer chuckled. "I'll assume that's a yes. Let's go," he said and held out his arm. Pikachu climbed up it to his original position on Ash's shoulder and nuzzled his trainer affectionately.

Giratina nodded slightly and then muttered, so only they could hear, "Try and be as quick as possible. I'll deal with Red and Blue when my head isn't splitting."

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, his brown eyes trembling with concern. Beside him, Pikachu asked the exact same question with a similar expression.

Feeling her lips twitch at the reflection of the bond between human and pokemon, Giratina nodded and said dismissively, "I've had much worse."

This was partially true, because while she'd been worse in the physical sense, she had never experienced the sort of emotional ravaging that was going on inside her right then. Looking after the deceased, as well as maintaining the balance between her world and the "real world" as people called it, was difficult to say the least. Since it left little time for emotion, it helped maintain the cold, bitter mask she often put up when dealing with her fellow legendary pokemon. Though, as with most rules, there was one exception.

Giratina gave a huff, discarded the bloodied strip of fabric, and bathed her body in the usual violet light that showed she was changing form. Why she chose violet she had no idea, it just seemed ghostly. When she'd regained her original size and shape, she flapped her black wings and launched herself into the sky. Ash threw his arms up over his face and let out a cry of surprise as he was buffeted by a large cloud of dust and other small particles.

Coughing to try and clear his mouth of any debris, the trainer looked up at the renegade pokemon with something akin to annoyance on his features. Giratina merely rolled her eyes; he really didn't pull it off well. Seeing that he wasn't being taken seriously, Ash folded his arms and stormed off to have breakfast while Pikachu chortled merrily to himself at the little incident. He still had his reservations, but maybe this alliance would actually help both of them, provided they stayed in a relatively good mood.

The electric pokemon and his trainer made their way back to Red and Blue at a brisk pace. The other boys might not have taken Giratina's time limit seriously, but Ash intended to. Quickly taking a handful of berries, he thrust them into his mouth, letting his team out so they could do the same. Instantly, this made Blue look up, his face hard and his eyes narrowed.

"Is there a reason most of your team isn't even past their first stage of evolution?" he asked curtly, folding his arms.

Ash bit back a snappy retort. He didn't want to go through this again. Red had been nice enough about it… but Blue looked ready to give him a verbal thrashing. Deciding to do something he'd never actually tried before, the trainer feigned deafness and busied himself in dishing out breakfast to his grateful pokemon.

Not liking the fact that he was being ignored, Blue repeated his question. When this, too, was completely blanked, he stalked over to Ash and gave his shoulder a heavy tap. Without turning, the raven-haired boy flatly asked, "Yes?"

"I asked you twice already. I won't repeat a third time," Blue said irritably.

"Then it can't be important," Ash said calmly. He knew he was being rude, but he wasn't in the mood to answer something he'd been asked constantly. Before, he'd gotten angry, but lately he'd been able to ignore it. He could owe that to the lack of motivation that had plagued him recently. While it was odd to find a good thing out of such an affliction… maybe that was just life. Not everything had to be wholly negative or wholly positive and, indeed, many things in this world… or any world, for that matter, were a mix of both.

Blue gave a snort but decided it wasn't worth it and went to eat breakfast. He'd eat quickly, simply because he wanted to get this over with. Helping a legendary like Giratina would be… interesting, and maybe even helpful in his goal to becoming the greatest pokemon trainer that ever lived. The one standing in his way to that dream was Red, his rival…and friend. Walking over to said trainer, he said boredly, "Someone's touchy about his pokemon's state of evolution."

Red gave a shrug and grinned slightly. "Not everyone can be great at bringing out their pokemon's full potential… and others prefer to work at their own pace. Pokemon can choose whether or not they want to evolve… and I guess as trainers, we have to respect their decision. Look at Pika, he hasn't evolved, and he's as strong as most pokemon I've seen. Ash told me earlier that he allows his pokemon to choose their path… an admirable quality. Though I guess it does clash with your ideals a bit."

Blue blinked. "When did you get so… serious and deep?"

"According to your grandfather, I got it from you…"

"Ah… Yes… that. One thing I don't agree with him on… especially the whole fact that I was actually able to get anything from you."

"Oh… so that's why I beat you? Because you refused to learn from the superior trainer?" Red asked teasingly, earning him a glare from Blue. Shaking his head, the champion waved his rival off.

"Just get breakfast. We'll help these two, and then get back to our own journeys. I'm actually kind of excited about this. I haven't had a challenge in a while…"

"You and me both… but unlike you, I rarely get excited."

"Yeah, that's why you're a total bore!" Red laughed. He quickly stopped laughing in order to duck away from a swipe aimed at him, courtesy of Blue.

Before Red could retaliate, a fiery orange aura sphere appeared out of nowhere and slammed into a tree. The entire natural structure exploded, with the fragments that remained crumpling to the ground when the wave of energy dissipated.

"Guess that's our warning again." Red shrugged, popped another berry into his mouth, and stood up. "Does she have to be such a bore? She's almost as bad as you. As much as she wants to rush things, two minutes won't do much."

"Won't it?" Giratina asked as she landed down next to the three, all six of her feet stomping to the ground and causing it to shudder.

"You do realise that two minutes to us could easily be two years to Giovanni?" she growled. "Or it could be as long as he wants, now that he controls time and space."

"That just proves my point…" Red said calmly, staring up into the dark red glare. "If he can bend time to his will, then no matter how long we stay here, he's going to have all the time in the world. We'd be as well taking as much time as we can."

Giratina stomped her left front foot and audibly snapped her jaws together. Taking a deep breath to restrain herself from sending him to wherever humans went when they died, the renegade stretched a shadow black wing and used her blood red claws to make a gesture to the crisp blue morning sky.

"Yes, whatever, you can say that until you're blue in the face. But if you're not going to take this seriously, then I will find a way to do this myself or die trying."

She said it with such bitter conviction, that by the end of her short sentence, her striped chest was heaving, and her eyes were squished shut. No matter what, she would not let her emotions get the better of her. She would not cry, or rage, or sag. She'd spent too long building up walls around her emotions… why were they all suddenly smashing to pieces? Why now, of all times, when she needed them the most?

Feeling a hand on her leg, she looked down to see Ash resting his palm on one of the golden armour pieces around her knee. The boy's face was completely obscured by his cap due to the fact he was looking down at the grass. Ash felt a knot in his throat tighten, but he was able to speak through it, though Giratina had to strain to hear him.

"You'd… never be fighting alone… it is my world, too… and we need to save it together… But… at the same time… we could use the help... And there's still the fact that we aren't strong enough to do anything at the minute… And you still need time to recover, yourself…"

Letting out a soft sigh, Giratina had to admit… they were nowhere near ready to take on Giovanni and his enthralled army… an enthralled army of her fellow legendary pokemon to boot.

"What do you suggest, then?" she asked, folding her wings across her chest and giving him her signature glare.

"Training of course… we can start once we find Green and Yellow." Ash replied, a small smile touching his face. The thought of training was actually rekindling a small part of his youth within him.

"Very well…" Giratina nodded, "I… guess that would be a good idea… Now if you'll excuse me."

Without giving any more warning than that the ghost pokemon whirled around and sent a sphere of eerie blue flames at the two native trainers. Both had to dive to the side to avoid the relatively weak blast: in comparison with its usual intensity that is.

"What was that for?!" Red yelped, jumping up to face her.

Smirking coldly, the renegade replied simply. "I don't take things lying down, something you'll learn quickly, though it should have been quicker… And I will not stand to be belittled just because you won a single battle. You still don't have as much experience of anything in your whole body as I do in one scale. Something you'd both do very well to remember. Unless you want the next attack to be stronger."

Blue gripped a pokeball tightly, intending to let his charizard have at the legendary, but Red held his arm.

"I… don't think picking a fight is a good idea. I mean, it's entirely possible you'd win… but you wouldn't gain anything fighting a wounded opponent… and it doesn't look like it's our pokemon she's after…"

"…Guess not." Blue shrugged. He knew full well that Red had been trying to play to his need for a fair fight. This was clearly a difference that would have to be settled at a later date… probably when the whole… stopping Team Rocket yet again thing was over. He was still trying to formulate a plan to beat an army of legendary pokemon… They would have to train… that much was obvious, but every pokemon had a limit.

Giratina turned away from the humans, taking off once more to enter her own world. Ash, on the other hand, turned to Red and Blue, muttering, "Thanks… for not fighting I mean. She's…"

"Trying to hide how worried she is?" Red finished. "Obvious if you know what to look for… I… guess I got a little over my head, there… taking a victory too seriously."

"So you'll apologise about that, but you won't let me live down the fact that you beat me in the Indigo league all those years ago?" Blue asked, folding his arms.

"Yeah, well, teasing you is fun. And… uh… you can't exactly squash me like a tomato if I get you mad enough."

"We'll see about that…" was the stoic reply.

"Let's just find Green and Yellow… then work out what we're going to do next."

Red nodded and called out Aero, while Blue summoned Charizard to his side. Both boys leapt up onto their respective flying types, with Ash once again hitching a ride on Aero. The raven haired trainer hoped fervently that after this little… incident… they'd be able to move on a lot quicker and work more efficiently as a unit. Giratina seemed to be warming up to him, but was in no way warming up to humanity in general, it seemed. Saving someone generally put you in a slightly brighter light to them than the rest of the world. Sighing heavily, Ash turned to Pikachu, and, together, they continued trying to overcome their language barrier, at least on Ash's side of the spectrum.

**Hi guys. Apologies for this one taking so long, but I had some problems writing it, and then I got it checked by a friend, so it should hopefully be much better than previous chapters. Hope you like.**


	8. Chapter 8

Onwards and Upwards.

Green tossed her hair and looked out to the horizon. Turning, she yelled to the small girl who was following behind her. "Hurry up! I want to make it to the next town by noon!"

"Yeah… sure… because that's when everyone is tired by the heat and more susceptible to a con… Are you ever gonna give this up and go straight?" the young blonde haired girl asked, folding her arms and trying to glare up at the older girl. The result was simply to make Green grin.

"Nope, never. For starters, it's too fun." Green chuckled. "And second, if people are stupid enough to fall for them, then that's their fault, not mine. Now, let's go before any more time is wasted!"

The teenage girl was just about to run off when two large dragon-like pokemon thumped down to earth in front of her. One was a grey colour with dark purple wings, and the second was a vibrant orange with dark green wings. Recognising both of these pokemon, the brown haired girl put her hands on her hips and pouted.

"What do you two want?"

"Hi, Green." Red grinned, leaping off of Aero. "Still mad at us for stopping you completing that little scam in Vermillion City, are you?"

With a flash of red, both the charizard and the aerodactyl vanished back into the confines of their pokeballs for a rest until they'd be needed again.

"Of course I am. You managed to force me to give back everyone their money. And I'm not allowed to show my face there again."

"What a shame," Blue grumbled, while Red moved on from Green and greeted the fourth member of their team. Yellow smiled slightly and waved at him. Unlike Green, she noticed the third boy that had arrived and blinked.

"Um… who are you?"

"Oh… this is Ash." Red grinned, before said trainer could react. "He's the reason we came here."

"Yeah… uh… Hi," Ash greeted nervously, giving an awkward little wave.

Green turned to the newcomer, and a smile flashed across her face. "He's kinda cute… you know… in a weird sort of way. Where'd he spring from?"

Ash, as dense as ever, completely ignored the obviously flirtatious comment and replied to Green, even though she'd asked Red. He was getting a bit sick of Red telling his story for him.

"I'm from another dimension… At least, I think that's the right phrase… Giratina was a bit vague on the subject."

"Another world? Funky, what's it like?" Green asked, rudely interrupting him. "And what does Giratina have to do with it."

Not really caring about the rudeness, Ash replied to the question. "Where I come from is pretty much the same as this place… just seemingly less violent. Though, to be honest, I haven't been able to work out just how different or similar it is. I've been kind of busy. And it was Giratina who brought me here."

"Yeah…" Red nodded, looking around. "And speaking of big and grumpy… shouldn't she have shown up by now?"

Ash looked up. "Yeah… I hope nothing went wrong…"

"How could it go wrong?" Blue asked with a snort. "Doesn't she live in that world all by herself?"

"Yeah, but…" Ash started, until he heard the familiar whoosh of air being displaced by massive wings. The air around them chilled as a shadow blocked the sun's golden rays from reaching the group of humans. The dust around them was whipped up into a whirlwind by the next flap, causing everyone to have to shield their eyes. Pikachu let out a small cry of surprise as he was blown off his trainer's shoulder and onto the smoothed path.

Expecting a third whoosh of air, the group braced themselves. Three out of five members knew exactly who it was, but the other two were confused. Yellow had hidden behind Red slightly, unable to lift her eyes to see the culprit. The episode passed with a thump that shook the stones around them and sent Green onto her rear. Before she could protest her situation to the world, a mocking voice that Ash had come to know so well sounded out through the thin morning air.

"I was just going to wait this out and let you three boys deal with the explanations," Giratina drawled. "But after hearing you were all so worried about me, I just had to allay your fears."

The smirk that played on her face as she said that seemed almost demonic, and her red eyes flashed with a fiery amusement. She was taking a twisted pleasure from having discomforted them so, and Ash didn't like it. If this was her way of getting back at Red and Blue, then he'd have to talk to her about it.

Red rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah… sure. We were just wondering where you were. I thought you'd gotten lost."

Giratina ignored this and turned to Yellow and Green. Both girls were able to hold her gaze, though Yellow was still staying close to Red. She'd stopped hiding behind him now that she knew that the newcomer wasn't out to harm them, but her nerves were still jumping in the presence of the giant dragon.

When the renegade spoke again, all the mocking edge was lost from her voice, and it was almost kind and motherly. The change surprised Ash… it was a tone she hadn't used since she'd first spoken. The soft, husky murmur soothed Yellow's nerves slightly, causing her to drift a little further from Red.

"I assume they haven't had time to tell you the whole story?"

"Uh… not really…" Yellow replied. "We just know you came from another dimension for help…"

"Quite…" Giratina sighed, scowling at the three males. "Could you be any slower?" she asked, before saying, "I'll let them tell it. Might keep them quiet later if they talk now." She snorted, the edge returning once more.

Both Green and Yellow turned to Red, which made Ash twist his face into a glare. Noticing this, Giratina puffed a breath of air out of her lungs to ruffle his hair and clothing. The trainer turned to look at her quizzically, but by that time she was already focusing her attention on Red.

The champion of Kanto gave out a sigh and repeated the story, telling his two friends exactly what he had told Blue. When he was finished, Yellow put a hand up to her mouth and gasped softly.

"That's awful."

Green blinked. "Team Rocket really did it this time… Lucky for his we have a few legendary pokemon of our own."

Giratina narrowed her eyes, muscles tensing as she caught onto the implications of that statement. Seeing the look, Green nodded and tossed three pokeballs out of the air. Out of the bursts of blinding white came three bird pokemon: three very special bird pokemon. One had a light cream body, long slender neck, dark, burning eyes and a long orange beak. The mighty beast's wings were made not of feathers, but a living flame that burned the air around it.

The second bird looked like a living lightning bolt. Its feathers were stark and straight, vivid sunshine yellow on the surface of its wings, with a jet black layer in between. Its face was circular and flat, with pointed crests all around the edges. Just like the last bird, its eyes were dark and sharp, and the long, deadly, sharp beak was the same orange colour.

Unlike the previous two pokemon, the third had an aura of serene grace, as opposed to the fearsome majesty of its companions. The glistening blue feathers were like that of a normal bird, with those on the chest area being a lighter shade of blue, and much more fluffy, like the down present on a pidgey chick. Resting upon its head was a dark blue three-pointed crest, which looked somewhat like a crown or a tiara. Just below this decorative structure, two blood red eyes narrowed as the bird stared at the humans around it. Dancing in the wind behind it was a tail that was longer than the rest of its body, and which shimmered like crushed ice.

"Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno." Giratina snorted, fixing Green with a withering stare that would stop the entire Tao trio in their tracks. "And just how did you manage to catch them?" she barked out sharply.

Visibly cowed, Green backed away from the glare and gulped slightly. "Uh… I… caught them… after a battle…"

Before Giratina could respond, Red cut in."So… now that we're all here… I guess we'd best get to work. We've got a lot to do before we can take on Giovanni in his current position."

Blue nodded. "First we need to find somewhere secluded… since I don't think it's a good idea for Giratina to be ripping up the forests around here."

"She's already done that a bit," Ash quipped before he could help himself. His response was a swift thump in the back. Nothing more than a tap for the giant legendary, but it was still sufficient to send the boy sprawling to the ground. Pikachu leapt away before he hit the ground too. Whirling around, the mouse pokemon glared at Giratina.

"_What was that for?!"_

"_The comment, obviously…and I didn't expect him to hit the ground. In the light of recent events, I must have forgotten how weak of body humans actually are." _She mused, more to herself than Pikachu.

"_And just what is that meant to mean?" _Pikachu demanded, a danger light going off in his brain. She couldn't be thinking about… that… could she?

"_Nothing. Now, enough with the stupid questions. And I won't apologise, either. He's the one who got me into this infernal mess!"_

"_And how did he do that? Giovanni's the one who started this mess, not Ash. Ash is trying to fix it," _Pikachu said firmly, his little fists clenching into balls.

"_Fine. I'll rephrase. Humans started this mess."_

"_That makes even less sense! You can't just put all humans in the same bag as an evil megalomaniac with issues. Most humans are just fine, and some are more than that?"_

"_Whatever. I'll just apologise if it'll shut you up."_

Grumbling to herself about overprotective pikachu, she looked over to Ash. The boy was just dusting himself off with his hands. Visibly having to swallow her pride, she let out a little growl to get his attention. She could hardly believe that she was going through with this, but it was better than being harassed by Pikachu about her feelings on humanity, and especially not one particular human. Both of which were completely up in the air; she didn't know what she thought and what she thought she thought anymore.

Why couldn't Arceus just have created her without emotions? He was just going to shove her into another dimension anyway, as well as orchestrate the events that would lead to her becoming the caretaker of the underworld, seen by humans as the Turnback Cave. Her treacherous heart, too, which right now was thumping so violently that she was certain that at least the pokemon in the vicinity could hear it, was another thing she wished to have been 'born' without.

Since Ash was looking up at her expectantly, she gave a snort to break her train of thought before she apologised in as gentle a tone as she could muster at the minute, while still straining to keep her voice steady. "Since Pikachu is giving me his best… pathetic… death glare… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you so hard."

"It's okay." Ash nodded. "The comment was a little bit insensitive…"

Giratina rolled her eyes but didn't comment, though she did think to herself, _Yeah… whatever; if you were Dialga saying that, then Palkia would need to put you back together._

Red gave a small chuckle at this, before once again trying to get them back on track. "Anyway, as the forests are out, the only place I can think of is Mount Silver. Not many people go up there, and it's got enough space for us to train safely."

"How far is it?" Ash asked, to which Red replied after a moment's thought.

"About a day's flight. Maybe a bit more, though now that Aero doesn't have to carry two we can go much faster."

"Who will I be riding on?" Ash blinked, until he noticed he was staring at the answer.

"You can take Moltres." Green chuckled. "Just make sure your name doesn't become too fitting eh?" she teased, giving him a wink that obscured one of her mischievous eyes for a moment.

Everyone in the group except Giratina gave a chuckle at the comment; even the legendary birds and Pikachu joined in. Quickly noticing that one member of the team hadn't taken humour in the statement, he put his hand on her leg once again and looked up at her. The renegade jerked slightly and turned a scowl towards him.

Unperturbed, Ash looked up at her. "You okay?"

"Clearly," she said simply, turning away.

Even though he was unconvinced, Ash decided to leave it be. Going over to Moltres, he began to admire the magnificent bird in more detail. It was just like the one he'd seen in the Orange Islands, when he'd had to rise up and save the day as 'The Chosen one'. The bird glared at him with one piercing eye, and Ash found himself able to hold the gaze with an intensity he hadn't done for almost five years. Grinning at the small glimpse back into his successful days, he reached out to pet the bird. Moltres drew back from the touch almost immediately. With a small nod, Ash resigned himself to the fact that the bird didn't like being petted and withdrew his hand.

Watching the interaction between the newcomer and her pokemon, Green rolled her eyes then turned to Red. "When are we leaving?"

"Now," he said and released Aero. "The sooner we get to Mt Silver the better, and I don't want to tick off Giratina again," he continued sheepishly.

"That won't get you any leeway next time," Giratina said bitterly, giving her foot a stomp as frustration built up in her. He was still so stupidly callous around her. She maintained the Reverse World, therefore keeping this whole world and another in balance, as well as acting as a caretaker to the dead souls in Turnback Cave, yet people still treated her like a demon, or as something that didn't deserve recognition, a tool to be used for the better of the world and the lives of those in it. Feeling anger boil up inside her, the renegade gave a heavy snort and twisted around, driving her wings down towards the earth.

Whirling around, Ash watched as she took off, diving into a portal to the Reverse World she'd created on a puddle in the ground. Confused at her quick exit, the trainer walked forwards a few paces. He didn't know why, but he knew something was dreadfully wrong…just as everything had been going so well. Giving a sigh, he walked back over to Moltres, and, at Green's insistence, hopped on. The heat from the fire bird's blazing wings irritated his legs, causing them to feel dry and almost numb. It was something he could live with, though… he'd been in far more discomfort than this at several points in his life.

When Red gave the word, everyone took off: Red was riding Aero, Blue was on his charizard, Green was on Articuno, Yellow was perched on the back of Zapdos, and, finally Ash was settled down on Moltres. The flight on the seemingly flimsy bird was much less comfortable than flying on Charizard, with his broad shoulders and familiar handholds. Moltres was too alien, and Ash didn't want to upset the pokemon by grabbing it in the wrong place. There were two reasons for this: one being that Ash didn't want to bring discomfort to any pokemon, while the second was that he didn't want to be thrown off to his death.

In order to try and calm his nerves, Ash turned to Pikachu and resumed their communication training. He felt that was going a little better, and his hands shook slightly with excitement whenever he could identify the different tones Pikachu used for different meanings. While he was nowhere near being able to hold a full length conversation with his best friend, Ash was still pleased with the progress…now that there actually was progress.

Smiling slightly, he pulled out his pokeballs one by one, and began to polish them. This was an act he hadn't done in a long time. Not really knowing why he was doing it now, the trainer reflected back on the last time he'd polished them. It had been the day he was getting ready to set out on his journey to his sixth region. Even though he hadn't been taking any of the capsules with him, he still wanted to respect each and every pokemon who had guided him and helped him as he grew up to be who he was. The task had been long and arduous, given the number of capsules he had to polish to a gleaming shine.

As he reflected, he looked at himself in the reflective red metal. The image he saw was distorted by the shape of the "mirror" but he was still able to see himself… or rather, what he had become. He didn't like it. The past few days could not remove the stain of his previous faults. Giving up had been wrong, on both him and his pokemon. When this was all over… he'd make it up to them and change his life around for the better. He had to become more independent, and more responsible. As Giratina had said, no one would be around to baby him forever.

Returning the last pokeball to his pocket, Ash turned to Pikachu and gave him a smile. Not just any smile, but_ his_ smile. The one he shared with his most faithful companion whenever they were anticipating the road ahead. One that brimmed with determination and confidence… one that Pikachu had not seen for a long time, and now that he was witnessing it, the small pokemon's heart leapt for joy. Things had been rocky, and they still were… but with the past behind them, and the old Ash beginning to resurface… things could only get better... right?

**And here it is, chapter 8. Now that the troops have assembled things can begin to kick off. So stick around if you enjoy this story, and events will unfold. Thanks all for reading, and to those who spend time to review, double thanks.**

**Slasher**


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